Eddie Hearn thinks it would be a good idea for Canelo Alvarez to be careful with his approach to his fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday.
Hearn feels that with the way that Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is so focused on scoring a knockout, it’ll result in him getting hit a lot by Golovkin, and he could wind up being the one that’s hurt.
The fight taking place at 168 could give Golovkin more punching power or, at the very least, greater ability to stand up to Canelo’s power shots.
At this point in his career, Canelo has turned into a fighter that walks guys down behind a high guard, looking to tag them with single hard shots.
Canelo has always fought that way his entire career, but it’s become more pronounced in the last three years.
Along with Canelo’s offense becoming more one-dimensional, his work rate has dropped off, and he’s not able to throw the same number of shots that he did four years ago when he last fought Golovkin in 2018.
“He’s got to be careful because the way he’s talking, he wants to go in, dominate and destroy Gennadiy Golovkin and walk him down and beat him up,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Canelo Alvarez.
“You saw that in the second fight. In the first fight, Canelo boxed smart, at times boxed off the back foot. In the second fight, he surprised everybody; he fought off the front foot and walked him down, and pushed him back.
“If he [Canelo] chooses to do that, he’s going to get hit, and he’s going to get caught, and the power of Gennadiy Golovkin, especially up at 168, is always going to be a threat.
“Does Canelo Alvarez punch hard enough to take Gennadiy Golovkin out with one shot? With his chin, maybe not. So he’s got to chip away, chip away, chip away. He’s got to hit the body.
“Honestly, the way that Golovkin looks, sometimes a fighter will mentally prepare themselves for one last roll of the decide. I think that this may be Golovkin’s last roll of the dice.
“With that, he will bring everything on Saturday night. It’s going to take a sledgehammer to stop Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday night, and he’s never been stopped in his career.
“Obviously, his only defeat was to Canelo Alvarez. It’s going to be a brutal fight because Canelo, in his mind, wants to go to war with Gennadiy. He said to me in numerous interviews that he won’t be happy unless he’s standing over Gennadiy Golovkin, finishing him out, done with boxing.
“He wants to knock him out. He won’t be happy if he wins this fight on points, and that’s dangerous. The pressure on Canelo Alvarez coming off the Bivol defeat.
“One more defeat, and he’s [Canelo] not in a good place at all. The undisputed super middleweight championship, pride, and two absolute legends collide on Saturday night. I can’t wait.
“Yeah,” said Hearn when asked if it means more to Golovkin beating Canelo than becoming undisputed 168-lb champion. “I think you always have the arguments about the belts and so forth.
“Gennadiy would love to become the undisputed super middleweight champion, but part of me feels this is the fight. Canelo has won belts; he’s won them for years. He’s become undisputed.
“It’s a great tag to win for Gennadiy Golovkin. For me, this is about the fight; this is about the trilogy. It’s two of the best fighters we’ve ever seen. Two modern-day greats collide for the last time, and I think this one will be the best yet.
“Dmitry Bivol also wants to become undisputed against Beterbiev. He’s got a very tough fight against Ramirez in Abu Dhabi, but, of course, Canelo wants revenge. He shouldn’t be overlooking Gennadiy Golovkin. It’s going to be a very tough fight,” said Hearn.
