Canelo Alvarez says he’ll knock out Gennadiy Golovkin and hurt him if they battle for a third time. DAZN would be overjoyed if Canelo were to substitute one of his fights against super middleweights Avni Yildirim and Billy Joe Saunders to fight against Golovkin.
That’s not likely to happen, though, as Canelo feels that it’s a worthy goal for him to try and become the undisputed champion at 168.
The average casual boxing fan won’t value Canelo beating fighters they’ve never heard of in Saunders, Caleb Plant, and Yildirim.
The former four-division world champion Canelo has recently gained a lot of confidence with his victories over WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
According to Canelo (56-1-2, 36 KOs), he’s twice beaten Golovkin, and that he no longer has anything to prove by fighting him.
In their two fights, Canelo fought to a 12 round draw in 2017 and then beat Golovkin by a 12 round decision in 2018.
Both fights were controversial, as Golovkin appeared to win both, but Canelo escaped without losing.
If the matches were six rounds, Canelo would have won without any problems because he looked great. Canelo’s historically poor stamina resulted in Golovkin coming on to get the better of him in the last six rounds of both fights.
In their rematch in 2018, Golovkin twice hurt Canelo in the later rounds with uppercuts to the head.
Alvarez says his immediate plans are for him to become the undisputed champion at 168 in 2021. But after that, a third fight with Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) could be an option if he comes up to 168.
Canelo says he’ll KO Golovkin
“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone; I did my job already by beating him twice,” said Canelo to RingTV about his two fights against Golovkin.
“If it happens a third time, I could most likely knock him out and do some serious damage,” Alvarez said in predicting a knockout win for him against GGG if they ever fight again.
It would be interesting if Canelo at least tried to beat Golovkin again, as he’s been talking about giving him a third fight for a long time. It’s always the same.
Canelo says he’ll fight GGG again if the fans want, and they obviously do, but instead, he’s chosen to go in a different direction.
In Canelo’s four fights since his controversial win over Golovkin in 2018, he’s beaten these fighters:
- Rocky Fielding
- Daniel Jacobs
- Sergey Kovalev
- Callum Smith
Kovalev used to be a good fighter eight years ago, but he’s an old guy now and not considered to be among the best at 175.
The fighters that Canelo should have fought at light heavyweight, Artur Beterbiev, Dimitry Bivol, and Joe Smith Jr, would have resulted in him being praised if he’d fought them.
Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso said that he considered Kovalev the best at 175, so they chose him over Beterbiev, Bivol, and Smith Jr.
Golovkin and Dimitry Pirog had already beaten Jacobs, so that was also a shallow win for Canelo.
Fielding had been knocked out in the first round by Callum Smith in 2015. Callum was coming off of a controversial 12 round decision over John Ryder in 2019.
Alvarez willing to fight GGG
“Right now, I want to stay at 168, and if (Golovkin) wants to move up, we’ll see what happens, if that’s what the fans really want,” Canelo continued about fighting GGG.
“I’m at 168, and I don’t have to do any favors for anyone. I’m at 168, and our goal is to unify here,” said Canelo.
Canelo’s remark about him not needing “to do any favors for anyone” sounds like he was taking a shot at Golovkin.
If that’s Canelo’s attitude about Golovkin, it’s troubling because it’s not about him doing him a favor. It’s what the fans want to see.
They’re not interested in watching Canelo cram mismatches against flawed paper champions like Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Caleb Plant down their throws repeatedly on DAZN.
Further, the money that Canelo will get in fighting GGG would be huge. If making more money to fight Golovkin again doesn’t matter to Canelo, he should go ahead and stick with his plans to fight Saunders, Plant, and Yildirim.
But for the average fan, it’s hard for them to wrap their teeth around Canelo, turning down a bigger money fight against Golovkin to face guys that they’ve never heard of and have no interest in seeing in Saunders, Plant, and Yildirim.
The average person wants to make as much money as possible in their jobs, so it’s hard for them to understand Canelo’s mentality in choosing not to take the bigger payday against Golovkin.
It looks like Canelo doesn’t fancy the hard work that he’d have to put in with him facing Golovkin again. Also, Canelo’s risk would be a lot higher than for him to face the light-hitting Plant, Saunders, and the painfully slow WBC mandatory Yildirim.
The fans want to see Canelo fight Golovkin again because their two fights have left more questions than answers. Canelo has failed to show that he’s better than Golovkin, and vice versa. You can argue that the two fighters are tied at 1-1 after two fights.
Golovkin appeared to beat Canelo by 8 rounds to 4 scores in the first fight in 2017, and Canelo barely edged GGG by 7 rounds to 5 scores in the second fight.
Golovkin looked like the better fighter of the two overall, though, because he had the better engine, and he was the one that was making the fight.
Canelo pressured Golovkin in the first si rounds in their rematch, but then he gassed out and took punishment from him in the second part of the fight.
Golovkin must come up to 168 for Canelo
“GGG can come up to fight 168, even though it looks like he can make 160 comfortably,” said Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso.
If he wants to stay there, that’s fine, that’s his choice. But if GGG or Charlo wants to come up and fight at 168, that’s fine, too. We have no problems fighting anyone,” said Reynoso.
Golovkin would likely gladly come up to 168 to face Canelo if he’d commit to the fight, but he’s not going to move up to that weight class for nothing.
Interestingly, Reynoso sounds so indifferent about the idea of Canelo fighting Golovkin. Perhaps that fight isn’t seen with as much interest where he lives compared to the U.S. Maybe there’s a disconnect somewhere.
If Reynoso honestly believes that the U.S fans value more Canelo’s dream of unifying the 168-lb division against the weak group of champions more than they would in seeing a trilogy match between him and Golovin, then he’s confused.
Of course, if Reynoso is intentionally steering Canelo towards an easy payday fight against the likes of Saunders, Plant, and Yildirim because of the little threat those fighters pose to him, it’s understandable why he’d want to go in that direction.
But if Canelo cares about his legacy, he needs to focus on fighting guys like Golovkin, David Benavidez, Edgar Berlanga, Artur Beterbiev, and Dimitry Bivol.
Those are the fighters that will give boxing fans something to remember about Canelo. The guys that Canelo has been fighting since his rematch with Golovkin have been mediocre, and it looks like he’s been shooting for easy paydays at the expense of the fan and DAZN.
