Abel Sanchez reveals 3 guys that beat Canelo: Benavidez, Beterbiev & Golovkin

By Boxing News - 03/08/2022 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Trainer Abel Sanchez says 3 guys that can beat Canelo Alvarez are Artur Beterbiev, David Benavidez and Gennadiy Golovkin.

Those fighters all possess the kryptonite needed to defeat Canelo and bring him to his knees, ending his long nine-year as the face of boxing.

If Canelo fights all three of those fighters in the next two years, there’s an excellent chance that he’ll lose to all of them.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that Canelo still hasn’t fought Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) and IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs).

Canelo recently dismissed Benavidez as an option, saying he has nothing to offer him. However, Golovkin doesn’t have a belt to offer Canelo, yet he’s still getting a chance to fight him in September.

The comment by Canelo made it clear why he turned down the huge offer from PBC for him to fight Jermall Charlo and Benavidez in May and September.

Sanchez believes that even now, with Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) turning 40 on April 8th, he’ll defeat Canelo if he abandons the boxing style that he’s adopted and returns to the high-pressure fighter he was during most of his career.

Sanchez lists 3 guys that beat Canelo

Abel feels that Beterbiev is too big and too strong for Canelo, and the Mexican star won’t be able to walk him down without getting crushed in the process by the powerful body punching from the Russian fighter.

“In my opinion, there are only three guys that beat Canelo now,” said Abel Sanchez to Fight Hub TV. “That’s Beterbiev. He’s just a bigger, bigger man, and he’s as strong as a bull. You’re going to have to hit him with a bat to stop him.

Image: Abel Sanchez reveals 3 guys that beat Canelo: Benavidez, Beterbiev & Golovkin

“David Benavidez and Gennady Golovkin if he gets in shape if he gets in shape the way he used to,” continued Sanchez in naming two additional fighters that he thinks will beat Canelo.

“No, I shouldn’t say ‘in shape.’ If he [Golovkin] fights like he used to. Right now, he’s trying to be something that he’s not. He’s trying to be a boxer, and he’s not a boxer,” Sanchez said of GGG.

“He’s taking shots and taking punishment that he shouldn’t take. He is a stalker; he is a guy that will keep Canelo on his backfoot that will keep Canelo thinking because he can crack.

“The Golovkin that stalks like Canelo does would be a great fight for the fans. But can he get to that point again? I don’t know,” said Sanchez.

Ever since Golovkin’s first fight with Canelo in 2017, he’s been boxing more rather than slugging like he used to do. It’s logical to assume that Golovkin studied Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fight with Canelo, and has used that style in virtually all of his fights since.

That style doesn’t work for Golovkin, and it’s led to him struggling against Canelo in both of their fights and having a hard time against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, a fighter he should have run over like a tank.

Bivol CAN’T beat Canelo says Abel

“I’ve had one of my guys, I’m not going to mention who, down at Manny’s in Santa Fe Springs or wherever that is in Whittier, and my guy didn’t have a hard time with him,” said Sanchez about his fighter dealing with Bivol during sparring.

“He’s a very skilled fighter, but he’s a very cautious fighter,” said Sanchez about Bivol. “He doesn’t take the chances that you need to take at that level.

“As you’re coming up maybe, but at that level, you need to take some chances to make things happen. He [Bivol] doesn’t seem to have that gear. Canelo was supposed to have a tough fight against Saunders; Canelo was supposed to have a tough fight against Plant.

“By the fifth or sixth rounds in both of those fights, he was like hitting the bag,” said Sanchez about Canelo. “He could have closed his eyes and hit these guys. I think Canelo is in the first time of his career.

“Bivol will present some problems with Canelo in the beginning just like Rey [Julio Cesar Martinez] did with Chocolatito [Roman Gonzalez].

“But once Canelo zooms in, maybe in the sixth, seventh, eighth rounds, I’m not going to say it’s an easy fight, but it’s one that will be easily won by him.

“I don’t think so,” said Sanchez when asked if Bivol has no chance of beating Canelo. “Yeah, I think it’s a 70-30 fight if Canelo trips before he gets in the ring and hits his head.

“It’s not that Bivol is a bad fighter. It’s that Canelo, I’m not going to say he’s in his prime, but he’s in the time of his career where if he continues to train the way he’s training, there’s only going to be a few guys that are going to get close to him.

“The tricks [of Bivol] are great and the techniques are great, but when you start getting hit, all that goes out the window.

“When Canelo stalks you the way he does and lands shots where he lands them, it’s going to be difficult to stay away from him.

“Like I reference in his last two fights, by the middle of the fight, he’s throwing shots like he’s hitting the bag. He doesn’t really have no regard for who is in front of him,” said Sanchez.

Dmitry lacks the gear to win

Sanchez says Bivol doesn’t have the right professional style for him to beat a fighter like Canelo right now, as he’s fighting like an amateur. Bivol is also too cautious, not attacking in the way that he needs to for him to have a shot at beating Canelo.

The way to beat Canelo is to attack him, push him back, and force him to defend on his back foot the way Golovkin did against him in their first fight in 2017.

Unfortunately, Bivol is too timid to fight like that, and Canelo will take full advantage of his weakness by walking him down like he did the four paper champions he recently beat at 168 to become the undisputed champion.

Image: Abel Sanchez reveals 3 guys that beat Canelo: Benavidez, Beterbiev & Golovkin

“That’s usually what happens when guys get in this stage of his career where nothing can go wrong,” said Sanchez about Canelo fighting at a high level. “Nothing in their mind can go wrong, and there’s nothing nobody can do to beat them.

“I had it with Terry Norris when he fought Sugar Ray Leonard, Donald Curry, and some of those guys. I had it with Golovkin when he fought a lot of those early before Canelo fights.

“In the [Curtis] Stevens fight, where he carried him for eight rounds until he wanted to knock him out and punish him. It’s a stage in someone’s career where there’s so much belief in what they’re doing.

“Again, it’s not that Bivol is a bad fighter. He’s a world champion, he’s a great fighter, but Canelo is on a different level right now.

“I don’t think so,” said Sanchez when asked if Canelo stops Bivol. “I think Bivol is tricky enough to withstand. He’s going to take punishment towards the last third of the fight. He’s going to take punishment.

“No, it’s not going to be a boring fight. Bivol has got skills. Bivol has got a great amateur career, but the amateurs and the pros are different things. Right now, he’s not an amateur, but he’s not the pro that he needs to be for him to beat a Canelo.

“Not experience but the metal, the Chocolatito medal that you need to have. The extra. That level is different,” said Sanchez.

There was a period where Bivol was more aggressive than he is now, but his fight against Joe Smith Jr. in 2019 took away his aggressiveness, leaving an overly cautious fighter, who fights like he’s walking on eggshells.

In Bivol’s three fights since the Smith fight, he’s looked afraid of his own shadow in his wins over Lenin Castillo, Craig Richards, and Umar Salamov.