By Trevor McIntyre: Saul Canelo Alvarez says he’s HIGHLY motivated to get middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin into the ring, hit him and KO him in their rematch on September 15. Due all that has been said by Golovkin and his team with their trash talking, the 28-year-old Canelo wants to take care of business when he meets up with the Kazakhstan fighter for their rematch in 19 days from now on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The last time GGG and Alvarez fought each other on September 16, 2017, the judges scored the fight a controversial 12 round draw. The boxing fans, media, GGG and Alvarez were not happy with the results of the fight. Understandably, the two fighters want to make sure the judges don’t have a say so in the final outcome of their second fight in less than three weeks from now.
Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) and Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) participated in a Los Angeles media workout last Sunday at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Golovkin put in a light workout of hitting the mitts held by his trainer Abel Sanchez, and then later handed out autographs to the boxing fans and met with the media for questions about the Canelo rematch.
Canelo seemed to bristle at one point when asked by the media about his weight loss. Canelo, who is very guarded about his weight and is no longer weighed by HBO on fight nights, wasn’t ready to discuss his trimmed down physique. Instead, Canelo said he wasn’t sure what the media are driving at in commenting on his weight loss. Canelo thinks he’s looks better than he did in the first fight.
“I don’t know what they’re getting at,” Canelo said when asked to comment about boxing fans saying he’s looking smaller. “I think I look better than the last fight. I’m motivated more than anything. I’m also confident. I’m motivated due to all that’s been said. I’m also motivated to get in the ring and hit him. I’m confident in my preparation,” Canelo said.
Canelo looked smaller and faster during his Los Angeles media workout last Sunday than he had in his fight against Golovkin last September. Whether the added speed and loss of weight will ultimately help Canelo is what the fans want to know. Golovkin was still the stronger, more rugged of the two fighters last time they met inside the ring. If Canelo loses power on his shots due to his size loss, it might hinter his efforts to score a knockout of Golovkin or even win the fight by a decision.
While working out inside the ring last Sunday, Canelo looked almost angry in hitting the mitts held by trainer Eddy Reynoso. At one point in the workout, Canelo threw 16 consecutive power shots without pausing. He seemed to be sending a message to the fans, boxing media, GGG trainer Abel Sanchez and Golovkin himself that he plans on making the rematch a war on September 15. If Canelo is going to stand and throw power shots against Golovkin like he did during his workout, someone is going to wind up getting knocked out.
Canelo’s hand speed and power looked top notch during the workout. From the way he looked, he hasn’t lost any power on his shots, and his hand speed looked improved. What was most striking about watching the workout was Canelo’s endurance. He didn’t take a break to catch his breath in between throwing shots like he had always done in the past. There were no signs of fatigue either with the 5’8” Canelo during the workout. He wasn’t huffing and puffing like we’d seen from him during the GGG fight a year ago. Canelo’s conditioning appears to be noticeably improved from the first fight. However, Canelo wasn’t being hit back during the workout, so there’s no way of knowing if he’ll wear down from the pressure that Golovkin puts on him on September 15. Will Canelo fade when he starts dealing with the fire and pressure from the 36-year-old Golovkin?
“You guys are going to see a different Canelo that’s hungry for a knockout,” De La Hoya said. “Canelo is going to go looking for a knockout.”
In the past, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has been known for making bold predictions that have failed to come true. In this case, De La Hoya’s prediction might turn out to be valid if Canelo does what he’s saying he’s going to do. Canelo has knocked out most of his opponents he’s faced during his career. He has the speed, power and boxing skills to knockout Golovkin if he’s willing to stay in the pocket and bang with him from start to finish. If Canelo is willing to risk growing fatigued, he could KO Golovkin if he unloads on him with a nonstop flurry of punches on September 15.
“I think the best way to show it is to show that I’m the better fighter than he is,” Canelo said. “That’s what I’m going to do from the 1st round, look for the knockout. Come September 15, I’m going to knockout him. What I learned from the first fight is I can hurt him and beat him,” Canelo said.
To get the knockout of Golovkin, Canelo will need to stay in the pocket more, not move away, and throw a lot more punches than he did in the first fight. Canelo was mostly throwing pot shots against Golovkin last time, and looking like a bigger version of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Mayweather pot shot style of fighting works well when you’re dealing with a fighter that doesn’t throw a lot of punches, but it’s not nearly as effective when you have a guy like Golovkin on top of you the entire fight, forcing you to fight. Canelo needs to be more active and unlearn the Mayweather style in order to beat Golovkin. Fighting like Mayweather will work for Canelo against most of the guys he faces during his career, but not against a pressure fighter that throws a lot of punches like Golovkin typically does.
“I respect the people who support me because this is a true guy. If you’re fake, of course you support Canelo. If you’re a real guy, you support me,” Golovkin said.
Golovkin sounded a little bitter during his questioning by the media. If you understand what GGG has gone through since last September, then one can better comprehend why he sounds so angry. Golovkin felt that he was robbed of a victory in the first Canelo fight. Triple G was not happy with the way the judges scored the fight, and he did not like having his record blemished with a draw that was unwarranted. Secondly, Canelo testing positive twice for the clenbuterol last February left a further bad taste in Golovkin’s mouth, making him wonder whether the Mexican star was drug clean for their first fight. Golovkin didn’t like his experience. When Canelo was subsequently suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his two positive tests for clenbuterol, it forced the cancellation of his May 5 rematch with Golovkin. This led to a chain of events in which Golovkin was stripped of his hard-earned IBF middleweight by the International Boxing Federation after he chose to face 154 pound fighter Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 instead of GGG’s IBF mandatory Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia looked good in his public workout last Sunday. As he walked into the ring, Munguia was cheered loudly by the fans, which treated him like one of the established stars despite the fact that he’s only had two notable fights during his four-year career.
Munguia defeated WBO 154 pound champion Sadam Ali (26-2, 14 KOs) by a 4th round knockout on May 12 this year to win the WBO title from him. In Munguia’s first defense of his WBO belt, he defeated former junior middleweight world champion Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith by a 12 round unanimous decision on July 21 in a fight that was a thrill a minute for fans to watch.
Canelo-Golovkin 2 will be taking place on September 15 on HBO pay-per-view, starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT. In the co-feature bout, knockout artist Jaime Munguia (30-0, 25 KOs) will have his World Boxing Organization junior middleweight title on the line against the highly ranked #3 WBO Brandon Cook (20-1, 13 KOs). Munguia, 21, will be looking to steal the show with his performance against the 32-year-old Cook. With the way Munguia fights, he has a good chance of looking like the best fighter on the night. Munguia has no reverse gear in his game, which makes him a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.