By Dan Ambrose: Gennady Golovkin weighed in at 163.8 pounds and Saul Canelo Alvarez slightly less at 163.2 pounds for their seven-day weigh-in on Saturday ahead of their rematch next week on September 15 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Both fighters are expected to be in the 170s by the time they rehydrate for the fight. Canelo is expected to be considerably lighter than the last time he fought Golovkin in September 2017. Canelo looked like a bodybuilder for that fight, and appeared to be in the low 180s after weighing in at 160 pounds.
There are a lot of pressures on the 28-year-old Canelo for the rematch after testing positive twice for the banned substance clenbuterol, and being perceived as the beneficiary of a controversial draw in the first fight with GGG. Canelo can’t fight with his back against the ropes, taking constant rest breaks like he did last time he fought Golovkin. Canelo was badly outworked by Golovkin last year. Just what the 2 of the judges were watching that kept them from scoring it against Canelo is unknown.
Former four division world champion Erik ‘El Terrible’ Morales gives the edge to Canelo to beat Golovkin.
“It’s going to be a complicated fight for both, the advantage can be the Mexican,” Morales said to ESPN Deportes. ”If someone could lose the fight by knockout, it could be Golovkin,” Morales said.
It would be foolish for Canelo to try and realize Morales’ dreams of him knocking Golovkin out, because he’s too small, doesn’t hit hard enough and he has terrible stamina for a fighter only 28-years-old. If Canelo fights Golovkin’s game, he’s going to be putting himself in position where he’ll be at the mercy of the Kazakhstan fighter. Golovkin knows now after seeing for himself that he won’t be given a decision against the popular Mexican fighter in Las Vegas. For that reason, Golovkin is going to make sure the three judges that work the fight won’t be able to score it. Golovkin doesn’t want to get the same treatment he got last time by the judges.
Morales sees the Canelo-Golovkin 2 rematch differently than the boxing public at large. The fans feel that if there’s going to be a knockout in this fight, it’ll be Golovkin that’ll be the one that scores it, not Canelo. The reason for that is simple. Golovkin is bigger, stronger and the better conditioned of the two fighters. We saw that in the first fight, even though Canelo had bulked up to the point where he looked like a bodybuilder inside the ring. Even with all those muscles, the 5’8” Canelo couldn’t hurt Golovkin, and he would up needing constant rest breaks in each round, often lasting as long as two minutes. Resting two minutes of every three minute round is going to make it very difficult for Canelo to beat Golovkin unless we see similar judging as in the first fight.
”It’s a matter you never know Golovkin is a 36-year-old fighter and that could change the situation, but he has always behaved strong and disciplined, and it could be a very competitive fight, Morales said in pointing out that Golovkin’s age could be a factor in the fight that would help Canelo win.
Morales’ career ended in his early 30s, but you can put a lot of the blame on that happening on the way that he would balloon up in weight in between fights. By the time Morales was in his late 20s, he was taking off a lot of weight to make weight, and this really hurt his effectiveness inside the ring. Golovkin doesn’t balloon up in weight nearly as much as Morales did, and he doesn’t need to use his training camps as glorified fat farms.
Golovkin’s age didn’t hurt him enough in the first fight for Canelo to win, so it’s unlikely much will change in the rematch. Golovkin has fought just once since the Canelo fight in beating Vanes Martirosyan by a 2nd round knockout. Golovkin didn’t sustain punishment in that fight, so he should be ready for the rematch. Canelo hasn’t fought in 12 months, and he’s coming off of knee surgery. You mut believe those things could hurt him. Canelo is also lighter than he was in the first fight. Without the size that he had last time, Canelo is going to need to find another way of winning the fight raher than using his size. At 5’8”, Canelo hasn’t grown any taller and his reach is the same as it was last time he fought the Kazakhstan fighter. Without the size, Canelo is going to need to box Golovkin because if he slugs with him, he’s going to take punishment and worn down by the fast pace of the fight.
Golovkin will be defending his middleweight titles for the 21st time, which will break the record he shares with Bernard Hopkins. Golovkin says it’s less important to break the record than it will be for him to defeat Canelo for what he feels will be the second time. Golovkin is convinced that he beat Canelo the last time they fought each other, and his win against him next Saturday will be his second.
Canelo and GGG will be fighting in a tie-breaker on September 15 on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the undercard, Golden Boy fighters David Lemieux will be facing Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan in middleweight action. The winner of the fight could figure into the future for Canelo in his fight in December. Golovkin likely won’t bother facing either of those guys if he wins or loses against Canelo, as he wants to fight for the WBO middleweight title against Billy Joe Saunders. Also on the card, former four division world champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez will be fighting Moises Fuentes in what is viewed as a confidence booster type of fight. World Boxing Organization light middleweight champion Jaime Munguia will be facing Brandon Cook in a voluntary title defense. Munguia is being groomed by Golden Boy to turn him into a star. Putting Munguia in against a vulnerable fighter like 33-year-old Cook virtually guarantees that he’ll win the contest. This is a fight that should be won by the 21-year-old Munguia.