Loeffler: GGG is going to be the hunter against Canelo

By Boxing News - 08/11/2018 - Comments

Image: Loeffler: GGG is going to be the hunter against Canelo

By Sean Jones: Tom Loeffler says Gennady Golovkin is angry and he’s going to be taking his frustrations out on Saul Canelo Alvarez in their rematch next month. Golovkin isn’t buying Canelo’s excuses about how the clenbuterol got in his system, says Loeffler, and he’s not happy with being stripped of his International Boxing Federation middleweight title by the IBF.

Loeffler says Golovkin was angry when he fought replacement opponent Vanes Martirosyan on May 5. Loeffler states that GGG is going to do the same thing to Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) when the two of them fight on September 15 on HBO pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Vanes fought a lot of world class fighter and he was never stopped before,” Tom Loeffler said to Villian Fy. ”No one was as aggressive with Vanes as GGG was in the 2nd round. Unfortunately for Vanes, Triple G was so pissed off from he canceled fight that he took it out on Vanes, and I think we’ll see the same thing with all the pent out frustration taken out on Canelo Alvarez on September 15. That’s another reason why Triple G is so pissed off, because of Canelo’s cancellation of the May 5th fight. It put his IBF title in jeopardy. The IBF wound up stripping him. He’s always wanted to unify the titles. So now he’s pissed off because of that,” Loeffler said.

Golovkin knocked out Martirosyan in round 2 after being clipped by a big shot from him at the end of round 1 in their fight on May 5. Martirosyan’s shot was a wakeup call for Golovkin, who didn’t do much in the 1st round. In the 2nd, Golovkin went right after Martirosyan in stopping him.

Golovkin has a lot of reasons for him to be furious with Canelo. The results of their previous fight last September, which was scored as a controversial 12 round draw, made GGG angry because it tainted his record. Having one judge score it 10 rounds to 2 in favor of Canelo gave the appearance to some boxing fans that the fix was in, and that GGG never had a chance to win the fight by a decision. To compound the controversy, Canelo testing positive for clenbuterol last February made Golovkin even more upset, because he wonders whether he was dirty during their fight last year.

”He’s not happy with Canelo at this point,” Loeffler said. ”Whatever Canelo says about why clenbuterol got in his system, Triple G is not buying it. He’s pissed off and he just wants to get him back in the ring. As soon as the Nevada State Athletic Commission clears him [Canelo] and he passes all his tests, Triple G is going to be the hunter again against the younger guy,” Loeffler said.

If Golovkin fights the same type of anger that he had against Martirosyan, then Canelo is going to have a lot of problems in this fight. Running won’t help. These are problems that Canelo won’t solve by dashing to his left all night long or turning his back to Golovkin to try and get the referee to give GGG warnings for hitting him in the back. Canelo will need to stand and fight this time, because his movement and questionable judging won’t bail him out. The fight won’t go the distance if Golovkin is angry and fighting like he did against Martirosyan.

Canelo is still suspended until August 17. That’s when his six month suspension handed down by the Nevada Commission expires. The Commission suspended Canelo for six months due to his two positive tests for clembuterol last February. Canelo maintains that his positive tests were the result of him eating bad beef that contained clenbuterol in Mexico.

Trainer Angel Garcia had the Canelo-Golovkin first fight scored as a 12 round draw. Angel thinks Canelo did enough to deserve a draw, even though he was outworked from round 3 to 12 by Golovkin, and looking very tired. Angel believes Canelo and Golovkin fought in the same manner. It’s unclear how well Angel remembers the fight though, as there a tremendous difference in how Canelo fought compared to Golovkin. From round three, Canelo was fighting with his back against the ropes, and moving to his left in each round. Golovkin was the one doing the attacking.

”I had it a draw,” Trainer Angel Garcia said to Villian Fy about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. ”Everything was the same. It was completely the same, the both of them. It was an even fight down the middle. He [Golovkin] got hit a lot and that takes a toll on a fighter,” Angel said.

Garcia is counting on Golovkin being depleted from some of the shots that Canelo hit him with during their fight. Canelo didn’t land a lot of punches, but Garcia still thinks Golovkin will be depleted from having been hit by those punches. Angel also believes that it’s better for Canelo to have been out of the ring for the last 12 months than it is for Golovkin to have been busier by taking a tune-up against Martirosyan. Angel thinks inactivity is good for Canelo. It’s unclear if Angel would say the same thing if Golovkin was the one out of the ring for 12 months. Angel’s comments about inactivity being a good thing run counter to the general belief about the sport. Inactivity is bad in boxing just like it is in any sport. You don’ improve by not competing for a year.

”What I see different in the second fight is Canelo was coming up from 154 to 160, so Canelo was playing the smaller guy,” Angel said. ”What’s going to come different is Canelo knows he can be a middleweight. He knows he can take a middleweight now, so that’s going to make him more aggressive for this fight, because in the last fight he was coming from 154 to 160, because in his mind he was the smaller guy. So now he knows he’s a middleweight. So I see a great fight this time,” Garcia said.

Angel doesn’t realize that Canelo actually was coming down from super middleweight when he fought Golovkin last year on September 16. Canelo’s previous fight was at a catchweight of 164.5 pounds against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6, 2017. Canelo had already proven that he was MORE than a middleweight when he fought Chavez Jr. last year. Canelo proved that he was a middleweight a long time ago when he was fighting guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and weighing close to 170. That’s above middleweight. Canelo didn’t prove that he can hang with a middleweight against Golovkin because he was on the move most of the fight, and not standing and fighting.

”That helps Canelo, because when you take off like that, it might help you,” Angel said about it being a positive thing that Canelo is coming off of a 12 month layoff to face Golovkin. ”When you’re fighting all the time, it doesn’t mean you’re staying busy. It means I could be hurting Golovkin, because in one of those fights, he could have gotten hurt,” Angel said.

It’s not a good thing that Canelo is coming off of a 12 month layoff from boxing and knee surgery. Contrary to the positive spin Angel is putting on Canelo’s year layoff, it’s not a good thing. It’s bad, very bad, especially with Canelo having knee surgery. He’s not taking a tune-up after a long layoff and surgery, and he’s going to be facing a much different Golovkin than the one he fought last time. Golovkin isn’t going to allow Canelo to take rest breaks like he did in their previous fight, so he’s going to need to fight for three minutes of each round. Canelo physically couldn’t do that last time, as his terrible stamina didn’t let him. While Canelo has been working on improving his conditioning, it’s not going to work. He’s been the same way his entire career and it’s not going to change now.

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