By Sean Jones: Abel Sanchez wants Gennadiy Golovkin to make sure that his third fight with Canelo Alvarez doesn’t take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After the first two controversial fights between the two that took place in that city, Sanchez is hoping that GGG can negotiate to have the trilogy fight with Canelo take place elsewhere.
Sanchez trained Golovkin for both of his two fights with Canelo, and in his opinion, he deserved the wins in those contests. Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) is now trained by Johnathon Banks, who probably feels the same way about not wanting to have the third contest take place in Las Vegas.
Canelo and Golovkin have an agreement to face each other a third time, but it likely won’t take place this year. Johnathon wants Golovkin to get a couple of fights under his belt before facing Canelo next year.
Sanchez: Golovkin beats Canelo again
“He beat him twice already,” said Golovkin’s former trainer Abel Sanchez to AB Boxing News on his belief that GGG deserved wins in his two fights with Canelo. “In my opinion, he beat Canelo twice already. So there’s no reason why he can’t beat him a third time.
“Hopefully, if he [Golovkin] has anything to do with it, I hope he doesn’t fight him [Canelo] in Vegas unless it’s so lucrative for him that he can’t turn it down. It seems that Canelo has the advantage there.
“So I would hope that if he does fight him, he would do it somewhere else, and he beats him. He beats him again like in the first two,” said Sanchez about Golovkin.
If it were up to Golovkin, he would pick a neutral city to stage the third fight with Canelo, but he’s not the A-side. It’s up to Canelo and Golden Boy if they want to bring it back to Las Vegas for another go-round in that city.
Given the controversy surrounding the first two Canelo-GGG fights in Las Vegas, you would think that Canelo would want to take the match to a different state.
Roach not interested in Canelo-GGG 3
“I’d rather see them fight other guys,” said Freddie Roach on a third Canelo vs. Golovkin clash. “There will always be similarities to what happened before. “The thing is, if GGG wins this time, then we’re back to a tie, and we have to do it again. Pacquiao fought Marquez four times, right?”
Fans want to see a third fight between Canelo and Golovkin, so it’s neither here nor there what Roach wants. He had no issues with his fighter Manny Pacquiao fighting Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, and Tim Bradley three times. The fans were sick of seeing Pacquiao fight those guys are the first two contests, and yet the third contests took place.
Canelo and Golovkin deserve to give fans third fight
“It’s not if I want to see a third fight. There should be a third fight,” said trainer Joel Diaz. “Why? Because of the contradictions. Everyone’s opinions are different, and, of course, people want to see a different fight.
“Maybe in the third one, there’s more of a definition at the end in the outcome, you know? That’s what people want to see. People don’t want to see close fights, and people don’t want to see draws. I think fans want to see a legitimate boxer win convincingly. And I just think that they deserve to give the fans the third one to make it more convincing. That’s the best way to settle it,” said Diaz.
The fans want to see Canelo and GGG fight a third time, so they need to give them what they’re asking for. Canelo hasn’t seemed excited about fighting Golovkin again, and that’s understandable.
Those are hard fights for Canelo. It’s a lot easier for Canelo to fight guys like Rocky Fielding, Daniel Jacobs, and Sergey Kovalev. Canelo doesn’t have to worry about taking punishment when he faces lesser guys. If not for Canelo inking a huge contract with DAZN, he likely would never fight Golovkin again.
It can be different, but only if Golovkin comes out of the blocks fast in the first half of the contest. Canelo is a six-round fighter when dealing with a fast-paced fight, and Golovkin needs to take advantage of that by starting quickly.
The third fight won’t be different
“We’ve had 24 rounds of those two guys. The 24 rounds were difficult to judge, and many of them were very close,” said former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on the two Canelo vs. Golovkin fights. “Depending on how you looked at them, they could have gone either way. That’s one thing we learned.
The other thing we learned is that Canelo can’t hurt Golovkin, and Canelo can’t hurt Golovkin. We learned that, as well. So to sum it up, I don’t think Canelo did enough to win, and I don’t think GGG did enough to win. I think as one judge had it and most at ringside had it, it was a draw,” said Schaefer in talking about the second Canelo vs. GGG fight in 2018.
“I think if they’re going to do it again. And I bought the first pay-per-view, and I bought the second pay-per-view. I think it was a great fight. I think they were both excellent fights, and both of them are incredibly skillful fighters.
“Both of them are, in my opinion, the top five pound-for-pound and great fighters and people as well, and I respect them. But to be honest, I don’t need to see them again because of a third fight; you’re going to see the same again.
“I can tell you that right now. The next 12 [rounds] are going to be the same as the first 24, and do I need to spend $85 for that again? No,” said Schaefer on a third fight between Golovkin and Canelo.
The former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer sounds pretty bored with his belief that the third fight will be the same as the first two.
GGG needs to box Canelo
“I don’t know if there’s anything he can do, but he is an experienced fighter, he is an Olympic fighter, and he is a medalist,” said trainer Robert Garcia when asked what Golovkin need to do for him to beat Canelo. “So maybe go back to his old ways of winning by points, scoring with combinations, and not just looking for a one-punch knockout.
Canelo took his punch, and Canelo has a great chin. Don’t go looking for a knockout. Maybe use a little bit more footwork, and try to win a decision by scoring points, and maybe outboxing Canelo. You never know. GGG is an Olympian, and being an Olympian, he knows how to score points and win rounds.
“All these years that he’s been a pro and knocking everybody out, that’s changed. Now he’s a knockout artist, now he’s a Mexican style, and now he goes out there looking for a knockout every time he fights. But maybe he should come back and fight the way he used to in the amateurs, you know?” said Robert.
Golovkin tried to box Canelo in the first fight, and it didn’t work. The judges scored it a 12 round draw, even though Golovkin appeared to win eight rounds to four. In the rematch in 2018, Golovkin slugged and struggled early.
After Canelo gassed after five rounds, Golovkin took over the fight and dominated the last seven rounds. The judges gave Canelo the win, which showed that Golovkin hadn’t done enough in their eyes.
In the third fight, Golovkin will need to pour it on early if he wants to knock Canelo out. Golovkin has to push a fast pace early, and not start slowly as he did in the first two matches.
Golovkin needs to use his amateur style
“Fight smart, quick, combinations, in and out, and maybe he can pull off a decision,” said Garcia in giving his advice to Golovkin in how to beat Canelo. “I’m not saying he will, but maybe that’s what he needs. Sometimes fighters are used to fighting one way, and the crowd loves it.
“So they keep fighting the same way. But then you need a new trainer to get back what you used to do before.
“I’m not saying Abel [Sanchez] wasn’t able to do it. But sometimes you need that new voice to make that change and believe in that new trainer that’s going to make you do what you used to do, and not just go out there and look for a knockout.
“You already got recognition for Mexican style, being pound-for-pound-pounder in the world because you’re knocking everyone out and you’re getting 20 knockouts in a row. Whatever it is, somebody has got to change it. Somebody has got to do something different,” said Garcia on Golovkin.
After 14 years as a professional, it’s going to be almost impossible for Golovkin to switch back to his amateur style of fighting. Even if that were possible, he probably wouldn’t do it. Robert is assuming that Golovkin can beat Canelo by decision, which he’s found out after two tries that he can’t.
Whether that’s due to the judges in Las Vegas having an inherent bias for Canelo, who brings a lot of money to the city, is unclear. What is clear is that Golovkin can’t beat Canelo by decision. So if Golovkin follows Robert’s advice to box Canelo, he’ll surely lose the third fight.
