Rosado: Golovkin fought like an older man against Canelo

By Boxing News - 11/06/2018 - Comments

Image: Rosado: Golovkin fought like an older man against Canelo

By Logan Garcia: Former middleweight title challenger Gabriel Rosado (24-11, 14 KOs) witnessed Gennady Golovkin’s performance in his 12 round majority decision loss to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) two months ago on September 15 in their rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we he noticed is GGG fought like an old man. Golovkin looked slow, old and it was clear that he’s become old in the game at 36-years-old.

The fight showed that Golovkin is going to need to find the fountain of youth if Canelo gives him a third shot in September 2019. That’s when Canelo is expected to fight GGG after he takes care of WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding on December 15, and then likely IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs on May 4, 2019.

Golovkin was just jabbing against Canelo in the rematch instead of throwing power shots. The judges aren’t going to give a win to a fighter that just jabs when his opponent is hitting him with power shots.

Rosado didn’t discuss Golovkin’s decision to walk out of the ring after the results of the fight were announced without congradulating Canelo. Golovkin looked like a poor sport in dashing out of the ring without giving Canelo credit for his win over him. No matter whether Golovkin agreed with the decision or not, he needed to show class, take the high road and swallow his pride to walk over to Canelo and give him credit. The judges saw Canelo as the better fighter, and that’s all there is to it. Canelo got the victory by the scores 115-113 115-113 and 114-114. If Golovkin wants to fight Canelo a third time, he’s going to need to get to the back of the line and work his way to title shot against World Boxing Council middleweight champion Canelo. The WBC are trying to make it easy for Golovkin to get the fight he wants against Canelo by ordering him in a step-wise move to face interim WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) to fight each other with the winner getting the Canelo fight. It’s a reasonable idea by the WBC. They’ve come up with the ideal solution for the Kazakhstan fighter to earn his way to a third fight against the 28-year-old Canelo, but judging by the comments from GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez, he’s not going to take the fight with Charlo. That’s too bad. The WBC is trying to help Golovkin by asking him to fight Charlo to earn the fight with Canelo so that the fight will definitely happen, but apparently GGG and his trainer Sanchez don’t want to work for the fight.

“I had Canelo winning a close fight,” Rosado said to Fighthub about Canelo’s rematch with Golovkin on September 15. “It could have gone either way. I felt like Canelo applied pressure. Triple G was able to box and counter. It kind of influences the judges when your trainer is telling you to stand and fight, and your circling the ring. It’s not that he ran, but it kind of influences the scorecards,” Rosado said.

Rosado’s view of the Canelo-GGG2 fight is a lot like what the majority of the fans saw. The reason Golovkin lost is because he didn’t stand and fight Canelo the way he had promised to do. Golovkin was on his bike, giving ground every time Canelo would come forward, and he defaulted his chances of winning the fight. If Golovkin hadn’t given up ground each time Canelo came forward, we don’t know how the fight would have wound up. The way the judges were scoring the fight, Golovkin probably would have won, but you can’t say for sure. The fight looked a lot more one-sided in Canelo’s favor than the way the judges scored the fight.

This writer saw the fight a lot differently than Rosado and some of the others in scoring it for Canelo 10 rounds to 2. It was impossible to find more than two rounds for GGG in the entire fight, considering that he was getting lit up by Canelo in every round. Even the rounds where Golovkin his moments in the 10th and 11th, he was getting the worst of it. Golovkin edged those rounds because he hurt Canelo with uppercuts that him looking shaken. In both cases, Canelo came back strong and dominated the final minute.

”He fought like an older man,” Rosado said about GGG in his rematch with Canelo. ”Father time caught up with him. It’s obvious.”

Rosado might not realize it but by him saying that “father time” has caught up to Golovkin, he’s not giving Canelo credit for an impressive performance and a great game plan. Canelo outsmarted Golovkin by preparing for the fight with a game plan that GGG should have been able to adapt to, but he couldn’t. That’s either a fault of his trainer Abel Sanchez or his own fault. Sanchez was telling Golovkin to stop backing up, but he wouldn’t follow the instructions from him. GGG wasn’t smart, so he lost the fight. If Golovkin continues to be slow in adapting, he’ll lose his next fight against WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Rob Brant. That’s the guy that GGG’s trainer Sanchez says that he could wind up fighting next. Golovkin will be back inside the ring in March or April of next year, according to Sanchez. He’s already ruled out him fighting Jermall Charlo, Daniel Jacobs and Demetrius Andrade. In other words, all the dangerous guys need not apply for GGG. If Golovkin fights like he did against Canelo, he’ll lose to Brant, for the reason that that guy can throw 1,000 punches per 12 round fight. Brant outworked WBA ‘regular’ champion Ryonta Murata last October in throwing over 1000 punches and beating him by a one-sided 12 round decision. Brant showed vast improvement over the performance he put in against Juergen Braehmer in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament in 2017.

“A little winded, and much slower,” Rosado said when asked to give an example of what he saw in Golovkin’s performance against Canelo in their rematch that would suggest that he’s become an old man. ”What is he? almost 37? His style of fighting, it’s hard to keep up the pace,” Rosado said.

Sanchez said the only reason Golovkin looked tired is because he was taking deep breath, because that’s what’s taught to him. However, it wasn’t just Golovkin taking deep breaths to get more wind in between rounds. Golovkin was taking deep breaths during the fighting during the rounds. He also wasn’t fighting as hard as Canelo was. Canelo was the busier fighter, and the more conditioned guy. Maybe that’s because Golovkin has been wasting time training in high altitude with Sanchez in Big Bear, California. More than a few boxing fans believe Golovkin is making a mistake by not training at sea level for his fights. Golovkin needs to change something with his stamina because he was gassing too badly in the Canelo fight.

“The fights are definitely right there,” Rosado said about wanting to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs and Demetrius Andrade if he gets past Luis Arias on November 17. “It’s about taking care of business on the 17th. I got to be a killer, and go in there and do damage. That’s what I got to do to be victorious. The top three guys are Jacobs, Andrade and Canelo. In order to get these fights, I’ve got to win and win in an impressive fashion. It’s going to be a great fight if he comes to fight,” Rosado said about his fight against Arias. “If I have to chase him, I’ll chase him. If he stands there, we going to bring it,” Rosado said.

Rosado will be fighting this month against former middleweight title challenger Luis Arias (18-1, 9 KOs) on November 17 at the Kansas Star Arena, Mulvane, in Kansas. If Rosado wins that fight, he strengthen his position to get a title shot against one of the four champions at 160. Rosado wants a fight against Canelo, but he probably won’t get that for a while. Canelo’s schedule is full right now.