By Jack Tiernan: Eddie Hearn expects a “brutal fight” for the trilogy match between Gennadiy Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on September 17th.
Hearn believes that Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is filled with bitterness over the recent shellacking he suffered at the hands of WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
It was so utterly decisive in the masterclass performance by Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) that it was sad to watch. Canelo was so out of his depth skill-wise, it was disturbing.
Bivol exposed many of the fundamental flaws in Canelo’s game; his trainers should have taught him things but weren’t.
Hearn believes Canelo will be amped up about that defeat, and he’ll want to perform to the standards that fans have grown accustomed to seeing from him. He will take out his frustration on Golovkin and go for the knockout to show people that he’s still a top drawer talent.
“Gennadiy Golovkin sometimes gets a little bit of criticism from the Murata fight, but he just went into overdrive and brutalized the guy,” Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn said to DAZN Boxing.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) is understandably unhappy with how the judging crew scored his first two fights with Canelo, and he’s going to want to get his pound of flesh on September 17th.
“I think Canelo Alvarez, with the spite he’s going to have coming off the defeat and the dislike he has for Gennadiy Golovkin and vice versa, I think these guys will go at it,” said Hearn.
Canelo & Golovkin announced their third fight on Tuesday, choosing to meet in the main event on DAZN PPV four months from now in a battle that could prove who the better fighter is of the two.
Most boxing fans believe Canelo-Golovkin are knotted up at 1-1 after two fights, with Golovkin winning the first fight 8-4 and Canelo edging the second one 7-5.
The third match, provided oddball scoring, should finally prove who the better fighter is between them.
Hearn thinks Golovkin could have more energy in moving up to 168 because he won’t have to drain down to 160 like he’s been doing. In Golovkin’s last four fights, he looked depleted at the weigh-ins and seemed slower than in the past.
“I think the move to 168 will help Golovkin,” said Hearn. “I thought he looked a little bit weight drained out there in Japan, and I think 168 will help him. It will be a brutal fight, and it won’t go 12.”
Golovkin did look tired at the weigh-in and during the fight against Ryota Murata on April 9th.
Although GGG eventually stopped Murata in the ninth, he got the worst of it in the first four rounds, and he looked like he was on his way to his second defeat.
A big right hand from Golovkin hurt Murata in the sixth, and from that point on, he controlled the rest of the fight.
