Golovkin must push Canelo back like Bivol says Tom Loeffler

Image: Golovkin must push Canelo back like Bivol says Tom Loeffler
May 7, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Saul Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol during their bout on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Melina Pizano/Matchroom.
By Boxing News - 08/06/2022 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Promoter Tom Loeffler says it’s important for Gennadiy Golovkin to frequently push Canelo Alvarez back with his offense in the same way Dmitry Bivol did if he wants to defeat the Mexican star on September 17th.

WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) used combination punching and a powerful jab to back Canelo off him.

Even the way Bivol dominated Canelo with his pressure, all three judges scored the first four rounds for the Mexican star.

Golovkin will need to follow Bivol’s blueprint to the letter and hope that the judging crew is a quality one on the night.

“With Canelo, you’ve got to give Bivol credit. From the fights GGG fought Canelo at, Bivol is 15 lbs heavier. So naturally, he had physical advantages and size advantage,” said promoter Tom Loeffler to SlothBoxx about Dmitry Bivol using his size to defeat Canelo Alvarez last May.

“What Bivol did to make it easier to score is he actually was snapping Canelo’s head back, pressing forward as the bigger man, and was able to push Canelo backwards. That’s really what GGG has to do at this point.

“The difference in this fight is that it’s at 168,” said Loeffler in regards to the Canelo vs. Golovkin III match. “The reason Canelo gave when he vacated his WBC title and didn’t fight GGG the first time when it was ordered in 2016 was that he was trying to convince everyone that he wasn’t a middleweight.

“Even though he was a middleweight champion, he was the middleweight because he just beat Cotto. So, he went back down to 154 specifically for that reason, trying to convince the fans that he’s not a middleweight.

“He fought Liam Smith, if you remember that fight, but he was fighting at 175. So that argument of not being a middleweight went out the window a long time ago

“Now, at 168, it becomes very interesting. Canelo coming off the Bivol loss has to come down from 175. GGG can move up to 168 lbs, which Abel and Johnathon both say that he was always a lot stronger at 168 before he came down to 160 lbs. I think that’ll be an interesting dynamic.

Not only being the third fight, but fighting in a different weight class, I think that gives the advantage to GGG moving up to 168 lbs,” said Loeffler.