By Sean Jones: On Tuesday, Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) weighed in at 168.3 pounds for his 30-day weigh-in for his September 15 rematch against former two division world champion Saul Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs). The 168 pounds Triple G weighed in puts him right at the 7-day weigh-in limit for the fight,
There’s no word yet for how much Canelo weighed in. Given how thin he’s been looking, it’s hard to believe that he’s more than 170+. Canelo will still likely be heavier than Golovkin. With Canelo’s dramatic weight loss, the question is will his punches have the same impact as they did in the first fight with Golovkin. Canelo looked powerful and huge for the previous fight with GGG. Canelo looked as thick as Mike Tyson against Golovkin last year. He’s not looking like that now. Canelo is looking less strong with his biceps, neck and upper body.
Canelo now looks like a large welterweight or small junior middleweight. Canelo is VERY slim compared to how he used to look 11 months ago. Canelo is now skinny looking. The question is will the slimmer look for Canelo mean improved stamina and hand speed or will he continue to have stamina problems. Will Canelo have more energy than he did in the first fight?? Canelo looks like he’s half the fighter he was last time. Can Canelo keep Golovkin off? GGG looks like he’s just as strong as he was the first time if not stronger. Golovkin intends on out-landing Canelo in every round, according to his promoter Tom Loeffler. If Golovkin is throwing more shots than he did the last time, then that’s bad news. A lighter Canelo may not have enough size and power to hold off the tank-like Golovkin, who will likely be coming forward the entire 12 rounds in the rematch. Is Canelo in serious trouble with his weight loss? Did he make a mistake in taking off the weight or is this something out of his control? Canelo has been looking huge since his fight against Amir Khan two years ago. The way he looks now is how he used to look before he started to blow up in size in 2016.
Golovkin, 36, will likely be heavier than the 168 pounds by the time he meets up with Canelo in their long awaited rematch next month. The World Boxing Council requires 30-day weigh=in for the fighters. The limit for the weigh-in was 176 pounds. The next weigh-in will be a 7-day weigh-in a week before the fight. That weigh-in is a little trickier, as Canelo and Golovkin will need to get down to 168.
The thing that intrigues many boxing fans is what weight the 27-year-old Canelo will be for the fight, because he’s undergone a dramatic muscle loss since his first fight with GGG. Canelo seems to have made a conscious effort to lose a massive amount of muscle in an attempt to improve his stamina for the rematch. Canelo had conditioning issues for the first fight that held him back and kept him from being able to put his foot on the accelerator in each round when he had GGG backing up at the start of the rounds. Canelo testing positive for the performance enhancer clenbuterol last February obviously doesn’t make him look good.
Golovkin and Canelo will be looking to prove to the fans which of them are the better fighter after fighting to a 12 round draw in their first fight last September. The two will be returning to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some boxing fans say that GGG will be returning to the scene of the crime in going back to the same venue as the first fight. Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions wanted the fight to take place at the T-Mobile Arena again for some reason. With the controversy from the first fight, Canelo and Golden Boy should have chosen to stage the fight away from T-Mobile Arena and Las Vegas. When you’re viewed by boxing fans as the beneficiary of a controversial draw, as Canelo was in his previous fight against Triple G, its best that the second fight take place outside of the same venue. Someone from Golden Boy should have seen how this would look in the eyes of the fans and instead opted to take the fight away from Vegas or at the very least away from the T-Mobile Arena. If Golovkin was the one that received a draw that the fans didn’t believe he deserved at a particular venue, Golden Boy and Canelo would likely not be pleased if he and his promoter Tom Loeffler insisted on returning to that same venue.
“Gennady is always in shape. No excuses,” GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez said. “Gennady is a professional and he treats his world championship reign as a professional whether he is in training or not. That’s why he has been a world champion since 2010.”
Golovkin started training camp for the rematch against Canelo in better shape than he did for he first fight. Golovkin looked like he’d already been training hard for the fight before he started training camp. In contrast to the previous training camp in which GGG came in looking flabby and plump around the face, he was slim at the start of the current training camp. Clearly, Golovkin was deeply bothered about being held to a draw in his fight with Canelo on September 16 last year. Golovkin has been obviously stewing about the draw, and he wants to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. The best way for Golovkin to keep the judges from pulling a repeat is by taking them out of play by knocking Canelo out.
GGG will be making his 21st title defense of his middleweight titles, and he’ll be looking to keep moving forward. He doesn’t want to let Canelo stop his run as a middleweight champion. If Golovkin can win this fight, he’ll be breaking the record for title defenses. What better for Golovkin to break the record in facing Canelo again to break their tie from last time they fought each other.
Canelo and Golovkin will be facing each other on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend on September 15 on HBO pay-per-view. The start time for the televised portion of the card is at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Canelo has an advantage in facing Golovkin on the Mexican Independence Day holiday just as he did last year. However, it didn’t help Canelo win the fight last year when he fought Golovkin on the holiday. Canelo will need to fight a lot better in the rematch for him to get the victory. The judges aren’t going to just give it to Canelo if he doesn’t show that he’s the better fighter. The last batch of judges were ripped by the boxing fans for their questionable scoring in ruling the Canelo-GGG fight a 12 round draw.
“One thing you can count on with Gennady, he saves the big drama show for the fight not for training camp,” said GGG’s promoter Tom Loeffler. “He is already at the WBC’s seven-day weight limit (168 lbs). Gennady pressed the action in his first fight against Canelo, out-landing Canelo in 10 of the 12 rounds they fought. This time around, Gennady is determined to out-land him in every round for as long as the fight lasts.”