By Sean Jones: Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin has received a tremendous amount of criticism from fans over the past week after it was learned that he wants to face Kamil Szeremeta in his next fight rather than battle Canelo Alvarez in September or October.
Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) wants to keep his commitment to defending against Szeremeta (21-0, 5 KOs), and he feels it’s essential to take this fight.
He’s been out of the ring since his hard fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko last October, and he needs a good tune-up bout before he makes his next move, be it Canelo Alvarez or whoever.
GGG can move on and cut his losses
If Golovkin wants to get even with Canelo for all the hassles he’s been through in their two fights, he can just tell him he doesn’t want to fight him ever again. Sure, Canelo, Golden Boy Promotions, and DAZN will be upset, but it would be understandable if Golovkin chose to do that.
GGG wanted to fight Canelo since he was 32, and he had to wait until he was 35 before he finally fought him. Then Golovkin had to deal with the controversy of their first fight, the clenbuterol issue, and then a 12-month wait for the rematch.
It might be a good idea for Golovkin just to move on. Sometimes fighters have to cut their losses and move on when the situation is terrible, as it’s been with Golovkin in his two fights with Canelo.
You can bet that if there is a third fight with Canelo, he’ll insist on taking it right back to Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. Does Golovkin want to do with that a third time?
GGG wants to keep his IBF belt
After going through a lot of trouble to win the vacant IBF middleweight title last October in beating Sergiy Derevyancehnko, Golovkin doesn’t want to be stripped of his title by not facing his mandatory. Once Golovkin beats Szeremeta, then he can take the Canelo unification fight or face someone else if that match isn’t available to him.
It’s crucial for Golovkin to get another fight or two under his belt with his new trainer Johnathon Banks before he fights Canelo again because he’s still trying to get used to the style he wants him to use.
Banks’ goal is to turn Golovkin into a non-stop puncher, who wears down his opponents with a volume punching Golovkin has never fought like this during amateur or pro career, so he’s got a lot of work he needs to do for him to adapt.
What makes it even more critical for Golovkin to fight the way Banks wants him to is the way that he’s been on the receiving end of two controversial decisions against Canelo.
If there’s no chance for Golovkin to win a decision against Canelo, then he’s going to need to be able to follow Banks’ game plan to the letter so that he can increase his chances of stopping the Mexican star.
Golovkin with nothing to prove against Canelo
After two fights against Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs), Golovkin doesn’t need to face him a third time. Boxing fans are already sick of seeing those two fight, as many of them have their minds made up already about who they feel will win the third fight. Canelo fans believe it’s a forgone conclusion that he’ll knock out Golovkin in the trilogy match without any problems.
They’re entirely convinced that Canelo will KO Golovkin without any problems whatsoever, and they’re not willing to entertain the fact that he’s never hurt him once in their two fights. On the other side, Golovkin fans see him beating Canelo for a third and being robbed once again. They think Golovkin was ‘jobbed’ in his first two fights with Canelo in Las Vegas, and they don’t see him getting a fair deal by the judges.
In looking at both Canelo-Golovkin fights, Golovkin did more than enough to deserve a victory in the first fight in 2017. In the second match, a year later, in 2018, Golovkin fought well enough to earn either a win or a draw. For Golovkin to lose the fight, it was troubling.
Considering how those two fights were scored, it’s not unexpected that Golovkin doesn’t want to take the third fight with Canelo right now. You can’t blame Golovkin if he never faces Canelo again because it’s hard to get motivated when you’ve got the belief that your only shot at winning the fight is by knockout.
Canelo has already agreed to fight GGG again
“Why are we not agreeing on this? This is insane to me,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN. “You fight Canelo Alvarez, that’s a subscription driver in the case of DAZN.
“It’s a pay-per-view level fight, as it was on HBO. Szeremeta is barely an HBO Championship level fight and one of those fights that Golovkin had to take, a Willie Monroe-type of fight back in the day when no one would fight him.
“Canelo Alvarez has already agreed to fight him. Here’s the deal. You face Canelo and collect a massive check, or you face Szeremeta, and you find someone else to pay you for it, which nobody will. You take your chances there.”
Canelo initially said he didn’t view Golovkin as being worthwhile fighting again because he thinks he already beat him twice. He doesn’t care that the boxing world saw Golovkin winning the first fight and deserving a 12 round draw or a win in their second clash.
It won’t be the end of the world for Canelo if Golovkin tells him to get lost. Canelo can always move back up to 175 and face IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev or WBA champion Dmitry Bivol and show the boxing world that he’s not afraid of those two.
There’s already a lot of boxing fans that think Canelo ducked Beterbiev and Bivol by his decision not to fight either of them before and after his fight against the over-the-hill Sergey Kovalev last November.
