IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin was very upset at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night about his fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez being scored a 12-round draw by the judges appointed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Golovkin thought he won a clear decision by 9 rounds to 3 or 8 rounds to 4. The most Golovkin could give Canelo was 4 rounds, as he felt he ran too much and was getting hit with jabs all night. Indeed, Canelo couldn’t stop Golovkin’s jabs from landing, and he was unable to stand and fight “Mexican style” the way that Golovkin was hoping he’d do. Golovkin said Canelo told him that he’s a real Mexican, but he didn’t fight with the Mexican style.
Canelo used the Floyd Mayweather Jr. style of moving constantly, throwing shoeshine combinations, and then moving more. Most of Canelo’s attempts at throwing shoeshine punches missed. In the meantime, Golovkin’s jabs weren’t missing. They were hitting Canelo squarely in the head all night long.
“He talked too much before the fight,” said Golovkin about Canelo. “He said he’s true Mexican man. I told him bring Mexican style. I wanted true fight at close distance. He knew he only needed decision 12 rounds. He moved all over every round, moving, not standing. I wasn’t surprised. He’s moving, and not standing close for me, not in front of me,” said Golovkin.
It sounds like Golovkin is saying that Canelo knew he wouldn’t lose the fight as long as it went 12 rounds. Golovkin and his trainer Abel Sanchez should have expected Canelo to move, as he doesn’t like to slug when he fights guys that bring it to him that have talent. If you look at Canelo’s fight against Austin Trout, he fought with his back against the ropes throughout the fight.
Trout has the long arms to jab Canelo at the center of the ring, so he went to the ropes and used head movement to try and dodge the shots from Trout. However, Canelo had never used this much movement before in any of his past fights. That’s a real compliment to Golovkin that Canelo didn’t feel like he matched up against him in a man-to-man fight.
It was obvious from watching Canelo try and fight Golovkin while stationary that he would have likely been worn down and stopped if he had tried to fight him with the Mexican style. Canelo was missing these ingredients for him to beat Golovkin in a one-on-one stationary fight:
• Stamina
• Power
• Arm length
• Size
Canelo was too small to beat Golovkin, even with the added bulk that he put on. Danny Jacobs observed after watching the Canelo-Golovkin fight that Golovkin was too big for Canelo, and he saw him beating Canelo by 8 rounds to 4.
“I am champion, this was the biggest fight in boxing. This is terrible, I am over it,” Golovkin said. “I saw the reaction, it’s terrible this is not fair. This is terrible for the sport, for boxing. If the second fight is the same, for me, it’s not my problem. “
Golovkin probably never stood a chance to begin with to win a decision against a fighter as popular as Canelo. The redheaded fighter means a lot to boxing, as he’s the No.1 PPV attraction. Canelo also means a lot to Las Vegas, because he brings a lot of money to the city each time he fights. Canelo has fought 8 times in Vegas during his career in big fights. For Golovkin, this was his first time fighting in Las Vegas, and if not for Canelo, he likely wouldn’t have ever fought in that city.
Golovkin’s boxing fans are in New York and in California, where he lives. Fighting in Vegas was Canelo’s home turf, so you can argue it was always going to be all but impossible for Golovkin to win a decision against a fighter like that. I don’t see anything changing in the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin. If Golovkin fails to knock Canelo out, he could find himself suffering the same fate as last time or worse. He could lose a controversial decision.
The reaction that Golovkin is talking about is the reaction from the boxing fans at ringside at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The crowd booed Canelo after the fight when he was being interviewed by HBO Boxing commentator Max Kellerman. The fans obviously saw Canelo as having deserved a loss, not a 12-round draw. The fans may have been Canelo’s fans, but they believed in a sense of fair play, and they felt that he had lost the fight to Golovkin.
“I am happy with what I saw tonight,” said Canelo about Triple G. ”The plan was to use the ring and the ropes we did exactly that. Let’s put the scorecard aside. We fought a great fight tonight. If people want a rematch. Why not?”
Canelo, 27, doesn’t have anyone else to fight that will bring him the same kind of money he’ll get fighting Golovkin. Canelo won’t bring in huge money in a needless rematch against Miguel Cotto, and fighting Billy Joe Saunders and/or David Lemieux won’t bring in big money. Canelo probably isn’t going to fight the dangerous middleweights like Danny Jacobs or Jermall Charlo. Those aren’t big money fights anyway.
“He has power, a different power but not the power everyone was talking about. I wanted to knock him out,” said Canelo about Golovkin.
Golovkin’s power obviously was strong enough for Canelo not to want to stand in front of him and fight. That tells you that Canelo is being disingenuous about him saying Golovkin doesn’t have good power. If Canelo didn’t have concerns about Golovkin’s power, then he wouldn’t have moved so much. Canelo had plenty of time to gauge how good Golovkin’s power was during the fight. If he truly believed that Golovkin isn’t a big puncher, then he should have conserved energy and stopped moving.
Canelo was using up valuable energy moving constantly along the ring ropes. If Canelo wasn’t impressed with Golovkin’s power, then he should have stopped moving and started fighting earlier in the contest. Instead, Canelo spent every round of the fight moving along the ropes. Even in the 11th and 12th, Canelo moved around the ring. He feared Golovkin’s power.
Canelo never came close to knocking Golovkin out with his shots. Canelo says he wanted to KO Golovkin, but it was impossible. Canelo didn’t hit hard enough. But then again, if Canelo really wanted to KO Golovkin, the smart thing for him to do would have been to stop moving so much and go on the attack instead.
“I will rest now for the remainder of the year and be back next year in May or September. If people want a rematch we will do it but one thing is for sure. This is my era,” said Canelo.
Canelo saying, he won’t fight in December is certainly sad news for Miguel Cotto, because that means he won’t get the fight against him. The rematch against Golovkin will happen in May of next year on Cinco de Mayo. As far as this being Canelo’s era, I agree with him that it’s his era that he’s fighting in, but he’s not the best fighter in boxing or the middleweight division. Golovkin proved that he’s better than Canelo last Saturday.
I would personally favor Danny Jacobs and Jermall Charlo to beat Canelo if they ever fought him. I think Sergiy Derevyanchenko would have a very good chance of beating Canelo as well. I think Canelo was clearly beaten by Golovkin last Saturday, as do a massive amount of boxing fans that paid to see the fight.
After the Canelo-Golovkin fight is televised on regular HBO next Saturday night for the masses to see, then there will be even more boxing fans that will see that he was beaten by Golovkin. Derevyanchenko would do the same thing Golovkin did, but maybe more because the guy is totally rugged and he would hold back in the early rounds the way Golovkin did.
“It was a great fight and great event. That is what the fans loved so congratulations,” said Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya. “I have to say Byrd is a competent judge but 118-110? I can understand 115-113, 114-114 either way. I saw Canelo win seven rounds to five. This is one of the best fights we have seen in recent years. These guys fought their heart out. Gennady is a great champion and Canelo is a great champion. I personally think boxing won. This is what boxing needed, a fight like this. It was a win-win for everyone. This is what the sport needed. It was a close fight. 118-110, it was a bit widespread. But what I’m hearing is it was a close fight. Yes, we do have a rematch clause and we intend to use it,” said De La Hoya.
Of course, Golden Boy is going to use the rematch clause for the Canelo-GGG fight. They must. There’s too much money there, and Canelo will be branded a coward if he doesn’t fight Golovkin again. Canelo can move on if he wants to, but he would hurt his career if he does.
“There were a few close rounds. HBO had it wide for Gennady but it sets up a terrific rematch. We will sit with Oscar and Eric,” said Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler.
Loeffler agrees with the scoring of HBO’s scorer Harold Lederman, who scored the Canelo-Golovkin fight 8 rounds to 4 in Golovkin’s favor. Loeffler is one of those type of guys that is totally honest when giving his opinions about his fighters. If Loeffler thought that Golovkin lost or if he truly thought the fight should have been a draw, he’d say it. Loeffler obviously believes Golovkin deserved the win, as do a ton of other boxing fans.
“Something has to be done with the judges in Las Vegas. It’s not fair to the fighters.” said Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez. “I think him and Danny [Jacobs] are very close together,” said Sanchez about Canelo and Jacobs being almost the same in terms of talent at middleweight. “I think Danny fought a little harder than Canelo. Canelo just ran a little too much today. But Canelo should be considered up there at the top 3, yes,”said Sanchez.
Jacobs was a lot more aggressive fighting Golovkin than Canelo. Jacobs wasn’t running around the ring the way Canelo did last Saturday. Jacobs was trying to take the fight to Golovkin. I agree with Sanchez that Canelo is temporarily rated at No.3 at middleweight. However, I could easily see Canelo losing to Derevyanchenko and Jermall Charlo when/if he ever fights those guys. For this to be the Canelo era, then he’s going to need to fight those guys instead of facing irrelevant fighter like Liam Smith, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
I got the feeling that Canelo is going to take a lot of punishment now that he’s fighting at middleweight. It’s a whole different ballgame for Canelo now. He doesn’t pack the punch to KO guys in this weight class, and that means he’s going to need to go 12 rounds to win his fights. You take punishment when you go 12 rounds. Canelo’s career might be shortened if he stays at middleweight from this point forward. He’s too short for the division.