Canelo vs. Golovkin: Return of the body snatcher

Canelo vs. Golovkin: Return of the body snatcher

Canelo vs. Golovkin: Return of the body snatcher

Canelo vs. Golovkin: Return of the body snatcher

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Last Saturday night, we got to witness a great fight between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo.” Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Where should we start? The scorecard, right? What can be said that hasn’t been said about it?

The fight itself delivered on all fronts. Stylistically, their attributes were a perfect match. In a situation where two fighter’s strengths and weaknesses nullify each other, the combatant with sounder boxing fundamentals usually prevails. GGG certainly did, in my eyes, edging out a competitive but a decisive decision by at least 3 rounds. The jab was instrumental in his success. Going into the fight, I thought that both guys were respectively facing the best body puncher they faced in their careers. I expected a tactical fight, centered around body punching assertiveness. I believed that the fighter who would control the jab at mid-range would carve himself a better position to mount a sustained body attack. GGG won the jabbing contest, but clearly, I was wrong. The body snatching was one-sided and dominant. Canelo punished GGG to the body, to the point where GGG held his hands low to protect his midsection, preferring to be hit to the face rather than the body.

In contrast, according to CompuBox numbers (approximate figures), GGG landed 8 body shots, the entire fight. Uncharacteristic to say the least. Was it his strategy? Was it a case of him being afraid of getting countered? I believe a sustained body attack would have sealed the deal for GGG, getting him a technical knockout inside 9 rounds. Canelo did a great job defensively. He took a considerable amount of edge off GGG punches. He did a marvelous job of rolling shots, countering and covering up. With Canelo’s back to the ropes, daring GGG to come in, GGG was oddly tentative. His body was square to Canelo’s, as he was adamantly pursuing Canelo’s chin with his right hand, repeatedly missing, refusing to instead touch up a body that was clearly open for the taking. What I see from my television and what is happening in the ring, are two totally different things. I get that. GGG and his team must have scouted something that perhaps eluded us. Still, how does a world class fighter, who is known for his lethal body punching, with close to 40 professional fights and over 300 amateur fights, completely forgo the go-to attack in boxing? The attack that would force a more mobile fighter to stay put and trade, Mexican style like he wanted it. What Canelo vs GGG demonstrated was that, against well-rounded fighters, power punches that can be seen coming, that are thrown with no speed, angle or rhythm variations will gradually lose their effect and ability to penetrate the guard. Especially, when those punches are thrown as single shots. Power resides in the element of surprise. And the key to the element of surprise his core positioning. On the ropes, and in the middle of the ring, Canelo’s upper body movement and faster feet, had GGG off balance and falling in his shots. That’s because GGG his flat-footed and needs time to re-position his feet. The purpose of staying on the ball of your feet as a fighter is to avoid losing the half of second you need to re-position when you miss the target. To that effect, Canelo’s movement disrupted GGG’s weight distribution, balance, and his timing, preventing him from setting his feet, planting and throwing his usual up-down power shot combinations. Credit to GGG though, who kept his superior jab busy in those moments.

While Canelo didn’t beat GGG, he effectively showed how to neutralize a knockout artists power. It just so happened that this knockout artist also had many other tricks in his bag. With that said, if body snatching GGG, less tense GGG returns for the rematch, even considering his age and obvious athletic decline, I expect him to still be too much for Canelo over 12 rounds. Canelo has a hard time fighting a complete 36 minutes. I got GGG by technical knockout.