By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn is predicting an “absolutely brutal” war between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Hearn expects a stronger, more vitalized Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) at 168 and will be more of a threat to defeating the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs).
Canelo is coming off an arguably career-worst defeat at the hands of Dmitry Bivol earlier this year on May 7th, and there are serious doubts whether he’s still the same fighter he was four years ago.
Alvarez’s passion for playing golf may be negatively impacting his career, and he cannot afford that now after getting humbled by Bivol.
We’ll see tonight if Golovkin stubbornly sticks with his normal fighting style of trading single shots with Canelo for 12 rounds. Golovkin will have a hard time beating Canelo fighting with that approach, unfortunately, and he might get knocked out.
“This is going to be an absolute all-out war. Gennadiy Golovkin, in his eyes, stone gold, ripped to shreds at 168 pounds, looked so good,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show, gushing about how good 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin looked during Friday’s weigh-in.
“The last couple of fights, you see the cheekbones a little bit more at 160. I’m telling you, this guy is ready for battle. And Canelo, you saw the shadow boxing after that. He’s ready to explode. This is going to be epic.
“It’s like 15, 16 years making championship weight at 160 pounds,” said Hearn about Golovkin. “You saw that against Murata. Don’t forget that he’d been out for 600 days for Murata. He had a couple of slow rounds, and then he battered the champion in his backyard.
Don’t forget; this guy has boxed Canelo Alvarez for 24 rounds. It’s not like we’re watching a fight, and we’re going, ‘Oh, I wonder if this guy is good enough to compete with him?’
“A lot of people thought he won the first fight, and the second fight was razor-thin as well. This is going to be the same kind of fight. Canelo Alvarez, from the first bell, is going to be trying to knock Gennadiy Golovkin out.
“He may be reckless, he may be emotional, and if he is, Gennadiy Golovkin is going to be right in front of him, unloading his artillery on Canelo Alvarez as well. Honestly, back & forth, this is going to be absolutely brutal tomorrow,” said Hearn.
