Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) bristled at a question by a slightly clueless reporter on Wednesday when asked how he feels being the underdog against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) for their fight on Saturday night.
Golovkin, 35, was quick to put the reporter in his place by telling him that he’s the champion, not Canelo, who is still the underdog for the fight. However, there are a lot of boxing fans, media members and fighters that are picking Canelo to win, but they have nothing to do with the odds-makers. They still view Canelo as the underdog going into Saturday’s fight. It’s unlikely that Canelo will pull ahead of Golovkin to become the favorite by fight time, but you never know.
It’s got to be a little annoying for Golovkin to have so many people believing that he’s going to lose the fight to Canelo, who will be making his first fight at the full weight for the middleweight division on Saturday. Canelo has fought previously 5 times at middleweight, but those were all catch-weight fights against Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Miguel Cotto and Erislandy Lara. Canelo was lighter for those fights than he will be on Saturday. He’s bulked up considerably for the GGG clash, and he could be a good 15-20 lbs. heavier than he was when he was fighting at junior middleweight.
“I don’t feel like I’m underdog,” said Golovkin when asked how he feels about being the underdog for the Canelo fight. ”I’m champion. I feel different emotion. I bring my belts, all my belts. I feel like I’m champion. This is my game. This is my fight. I’m boss, not Canelo! Canelo maybe only red corner, I don’t know. Maybe he come out 1st or 2nd [in ring entrance]. It’s nothing. I’m the champion,” said Golovkin.
I don’t think Golovkin likes being seen as the secondary fighter rather than the champion. Canelo is hogging the limelight despite him being the challenger in the contest. Golovkin can change all that by destroying Canelo to expose him like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did. The reason Canelo didn’t lose more popularity from his lackluster performance against Mayweather was because he lost a decision, and it was a safety-first type of performance by Mayweather. It’ll be a different story if Golovkin obliterates Canelo. The boxing world, including the media and the fighters that were picking Canelo, will be forced to give Golovkin his due. Of course, there will be those people who will instead label Canelo a bum, and still no give Golovkin his proper credit for destroying him. That’s how it works in boxing. Some fighters never get credit no matter what they do. . There’s always someone else that they’re asked to fight in order to prove themselves. If Golovkin beats Canelo, he’ll likely be asked by the fans to face Daniel Jacobs in a rematch and then after that, Jermall Charlo and Sergiy Derevyancneko.
“No, nothing,” said Golovkin in response to a question about whether he’s worried about the judging for the fight. “I respect sport. I believe everybody, all judges respect boxing. If the judges are not correct, this is very bad. Not for me to who I am, for boxing history. I believe everybody is correct,” said Golovkin.
It might not be that bad for Golovkin if he loses a controversial decision, as it likely will increase his chances of getting a rematch against Canelo. Beating Canelo works against Golovkin getting a second fight with him, considering that it puts Golden Boy in a position where their only money fighter could lose his money earning ability for them. While Oscar De La Hoya has said recently that if Canelo loses, it’s not a big deal because he lost to one of the best. It will be a big deal though, because it hurts Canelo’s star power.
Boxing fans are fickle. They’ll jump ship quickly when fighters get beaten. For example of that, look at Manny Pacquiao and Sergey Kovalev after their recent defeats. Both guys are highly respected by the boxing world before their recent defeats. But now that both guys have suffered defeats in the last year, they’re considered over-the-hill fighters in the minds of some fans.
Canelo is still young to be seen as over-the-hill if he gets beaten by GGG, but he’ll likely still be seen by legions of fans as yesterday’s news if he gets knocked out by Golovkin. This is why it really doesn’t hurt Golovkin that badly if he loses a controversial decision to Canelo. Losing to Canelo will make Golovkin more money unless he loses really badly. Golden Boy won’t bother making a second Canelo-Golovkin fight if Canelo destroys Golovkin and vice versa. They probably won’t make a second fight if Golovkin destroys Canelo. In that case, it would be entirely up to Canelo if he would want to risk his career in taking a second fight with the Kazakhstan knockout artist. In the past, Canelo resisted advice from Golden Boy Promotions to take fights against Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara, both of which De La Hoya was against him fighting.
Canelo arguably lost to both guys, but he was given controversial decision wins. Since the Lara fight, Canelo has been more pliable in letting Golden Boy steer his career to safer waters in mismatches against James Kirkland. Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and a nice payday fight against the smaller Miguel Cotto.
“The biggest day is coming. A lot of money is coming,” said Golovkin laughing. “Biggest fight is coming, true fight. I’m a boxer. I like fight. I’m very excited.”
Golovkin wants the boxing fans to know the difference between his fight with Canelo and the recent business/commercial fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. That was more of an exhibition fight than a true sporting event. Mayweather selected a fighter from another sport that had never boxed a day in his life, and put together a fight with him. The Nevada State Athletic Commission gave McGregor a boxing license, and sanctioned the fight. The Mayweather-McGregor fight had no bearing to a real sporting event, as there no world titles on the line, of course, and it was just 2 athletes. Mayweather could have picked out Tom Brady from the NFL to fight, and it would be pretty much the same thing. It would be another business/commercial fight to get the casual boxing fans to purchase it.
Golovkin isn’t fighting the best middleweight though. He’s fighting a popular guy from the 154 lb. division in Canelo. He’s not considered the second best middleweight. Danny Jacobs is viewed as No.2 at 160. Canelo is more of a popular guy with a huge fan base of Mexican boxing fans in the U.S. Canelo never proved that he was the best at 154. He beat some guys like Liam Smith, Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and James Kirkland, but he never fought the younger talents in the division like the Charlo brothers, Jarrett Hurd, Demetrius Andrade and Erickson Lubin.
“This is business fight, commercial fight,” said Golovkin about the recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight that took place last month on August 26. “If Mayweather and McGregor said this is to help people, help for the kids, because both have kids, like charity like fight, maybe a percentage deal to give to the people, of course, I would watch. I support, I buy to watch 2 famous guys. It’s not a true sport fight. It’s not interesting for me. This fight is completely different,” said Golovkin about his fight against Canelo Alvarez. “This is true boxing fight. This is real fight, 2 great champions. It’s completely different,” said Golovkin.
Canelo and Golovkin still haven’t gotten to the point where they’re as popular as Mayweather was during his prime. Canelo is held back by the many low level fights he’s been put in by Golden Boy. They’ve matched Canelo too carefully for his career to take off. After the Mayweather fight, it’s been mostly safe fights for Canelo. He brought in a lot of buys against old timer Miguel Cotto in 2015, and against the past his prime and weight drained Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but Canelo hasn’t been put in against dangerous guys like Golovkin, Danny Jacobs, Jermall Charlo and some of the super middleweights. In Golovkin’s case, he’s been unable to get fights against the popular guys like Mayweather, Cotto and Canelo. Golovkin has been avoided by those fighters, mostly because he lacks the popularity to make him a bigger star.
“This is no regular fight,” said Golovkin in talking about his fight with Canelo. “I want to bring all my belts home. This is biggest fight for us, and boxing. This is big. I believe this is not the last fight for us. I believe I have second fight too,” Golovkin said in talking about a possible rematch against Canelo in the future.
There’s a very good chance there will be a rematch between Canelo and GGG. There isn’t anyone else for Canelo to fight right now in boxing that will give him the kind of payday that he’ll be getting against Golovkin. The 154 lb. division is filled with no name guys, and the same with the 160 lb. division. Those aren’t worth it for Canelo to fight for him to get the big money he’ll be receiving for the GGG fight. It’s in Canelo and Golovkin’s best interest for the two fighters to face each other as often as they can to take advantage of the fans interest.
The best thing that can happen is for the first 2 fights to be close but not necessarily controversial. If the fights are close, the boxing fans will keep purchasing the fights. Controversial fights sometimes turn off the fans, as they might believe that the losing fighter won’t be given a fair shake in the rematch. You can argue that a lot of boxing fans felt that Sergey Kovalev was robbed in his first fight with Andre Ward, and some of those fans felt he wouldn’t be given a decision in the rematch.
“I’m really excited to get in and fight,” said Canelo. “I have nothing to say to him. They know what kind of fighter I am. I’m prepared. I’m ready. All I want to tell him is, ‘Look, let’s give the fans a good fight,’” added Canelo.
