By Logan Garcia: Roy Jones Jr. thinks Gennady Golovkin only has himself to blame for losing his rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night. Jones says that GGG and his trainer Abel Sanchez had been badgering Canelo (50-1-2, 34 KOs) not to run in the rematch at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but when he got his wish, he turned around and ran from the Mexican warrior.
The fight was scored 114-114, 115-113 and 115-113. Canelo pulled out the 12th round on two of the judges’ scorecards. GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez thinks Golovkin took the 12th round off.
Jones says Golovkin got what he wanted in Canelo coming right at him to mix it up in a war, and instead of meeting him in the center of the ring for a toe-to-toe battle, GGG ran like he didn’t want it. Jones says the fight was close enough to be scored a draw, but with the way that Golovkin fought by running, he made it hard for the judges to give him the victory. Instead of fighting, Golovkin kept running and never stopped. For that reason, Golovkin put himself at the mercy of the judges and lost the fight. Jones thought that Golovkin deserved a win in the first fight with Canelo last year, but not in the second fight. GGG didn’t do enough to win.
Jones wants to see a rematch between Triple G and Canelo, but he question whether it’ll happen because of network issues. Golovkin and Canelo’s contracts with HBO expired with their rematch last Saturday, and it’s unknown which network they’ll go to. Unless they end up on the same network, it could make it tough for a third fight between them to get made.
“I would have wanted to see another draw because nobody dominated nobody,” said Roy Jones Jr. of HBO to Fighthub about the Canelo vs. Golovkin 2 fight. “GGG’s trainer [Abel Sanchez] said he wanted him to stand there and fight, but then they ran. You said they [Canelo] ran, but then you ran. You can’t do that and expect them to go you the fight,” Jones said in scolding Golovkin and his team.
You can’t say that Golovkin deserved the win last Saturday or even a draw. I personally had Canelo winning 10 rounds to 2. He was hitting Golovkin all night long, landing the cleaner shots and outworking him. Golovkin looked tired like an old man, and worse than that, he seemed like he was afraid of Canelo. Golovkin didn’t really start fighting until the 9th round. GGG fought well in rounds 9 and 10, but then disappeared in round 11 and 12 when Canelo came alive once again to put the fight out of reach.
The fight was there to be won for Golovkin on the judges’ scorecards, but he disappeared in the last two rounds and let Canelo take the 11th and 12. Again, I had Golovkin getting dominated in rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12. Canelo was too good in all of those rounds. Even the 9th and 10th were close rounds that could have gone either way. I gave them to Golovkin because he landed a few really hard shots that seemed to take the air out Canelo’s tires in those rounds. Canelo came back though and looked exceptional in the 11th and 12h.
Canelo’s punches were making a lot of noise on impact compared to GGG’s, which seemed to be pushing shots. Going by the sound of Canelo’s blows, he was the stronger fighter of the two in terms of power. I don’t think Golovkin is capable of firing more than one or two hard punches per round for some reason. Something is not right with him. Canelo was hitting with maximum power with every shot he threw, and you could see the damage that he was doing to GGG’s face by the later rounds of the fight. Golovkin looked beaten up.
“GGG landed the more punches like he did in the first fight, but Canelo landed the better punches. It’s the same thing that you asked him to do, and you did worse than you did last time,” Jones said.
Canelo landed with more power, and that makes you question whether Golovkin’s reputation for being a huge puncher is undeserved. Golovkin doesn’t hit as hard as a lot of boxing fans think he does, because if he did, his shots would have been making as much if not more noise than the punches that Canelo was throwing. Golovkin still hits hard, don’t get me wrong, but he just doesn’t appear to hit as hard as Canelo does. Perhaps the reason why GGG has a better knockout percentage than Canelo could have something to do with the weak opposition that he’s been fighting during his career. Canelo has fought better guys than Golovkin, and that makes it harder to have the same kind of KO percentage as him.
“I want to see a third one, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen, because they got issues with the network,” Jones said. “I’d like to see a third one, because no one dominated each other soon. Canelo just showed he can do his thing and fight both ways.”
If Canelo winds up on ESPN and GGG on Showtime or DAZN, then it’s unlikely that we’ll see a third fight between them anytime soon. There will still likely be a third fight between Canelo and Golovkin someday, but not likely soon if they sign with different networks.
”GGG came back and changed the tide of the fight in the second half of the fight,” Jones said. ”In the early rounds, he [Golovkin] wasn’t fighting like I expected him to fight. GGG had been a killer, and then the man comes to you and you box him? You say, ‘Mexican style,’ and then get in there and not fight? You called him out and said ‘Mexican style’ and you box him? No, you can’t do that. It makes it tough [for the judges],” Jones said.
Golovkin made a big mistake in not starting earlier to begin slugging with Canelo, but I don’t think it would have mattered. Canelo was always going to be too fast and too powerful for GGG to stand and trade with him. If Golovkin had started earlier with his offense, he likely would have been knocked out by Canelo. Golovkin’s face was badly swollen as it is with him fighting defensively for most of the fight. Had Golovkin traded power shots with Canelo in the early rounds, he would have been worn down from the pace. Golovkin looked gassed out and incapable of fighting Canelo toe-to-toe in the way that he would have needed to for him to have a chance of winning.
“I don’t know. I hope it’s GGG, but I don’t know,” Jones said when asked who should Canelo fight next. “Munguia would be a good fight,” Jones said in picking out a fighter he’d like to see Canelo face next.
Munguia is with Golden Boy Promotions for one more fight. If Munguia’s next fight is going to be his last with Golden Boy, then a fight between him and Canelo is a must. The fight will likely happen unless it’s blocked by his promoters. It would be a good one if it can get made. Munguia is a big guy at 6’0” with a lot of size and punching power. He would make for an exciting fight for Canelo.
