ENABLING GENNADY GOLOVKIN

By James Blears
Experienced and versatile trainer Abel Sanchez is the man who prepares undefeated WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to raise cain.
The results of developing Gennady in the Mexican mode of fighting, have been hugely impressive, as he`s dispatched 32 of his 35 opponents and is well on the way to unifying the entire middleweight division.

During Gennady`s visit to Mexico,  to be presented the World Boxing Council famous green and gold belt by  President Mauricio Sulaiman at the Embassy of Kazakhstan,  the very able Abel spoke with the WBC about what makes Gennady such as terrific and fantastic fighter.

WBC: What is your assessment of Kell Brook?

Abel:  We have a difficult fight on our hands because Kell is a welterweight.  He`s got faster hands and faster feet. He`s also got some great coaching staff. He`s got an old cagey veteran and his son, and that cagey veteran is going to know that Kell can`t stand in front of Gennady. So Kell is going to try and box Gennady and they`re going to prepare him that way. Our job is cut off the ring and not get into long combinations. We need to make sure that we touch him, we slow him down and remember we are fighting an undefeated welterweight and probably the best welterweight in the World right now.  A champion who dares to be great and wants to see where he stands in time, his career and legacy.

WBC:  Isn`t that what it`s really all about. If you`re the greatest, you have to fight the greatest?!

Abel: Absolutely! I think Brook understands where he wants to be.  If he loses against Gennady, he can say he lost against the best at that particular time.  Nothing says he wouldn`t try again, but he`ll understand what he has to do for the next time.  With Golovkin, we`re looking at one of the premier middleweights of all time. Unfortunately, a fighter never gets credit until he`s retired for twenty years.  Larry Holmes was such a dominant heavyweight, yet back then they were bad mouthing him. You can`t please everybody. It takes time for people to realize the accomplishments.

WBC:  You train him so you know. What makes Gennady Golovkin so increadibly special?

Abel:  First and foremost for Gennady this is a sport.  This is not a case of I hate you or want to destroy you.  It`s got to do with playing a variety of chess and being a  better man than that opponent across the way, and at the end of the day, we`re going to go out and have dinner together. Golovkin respects the Sport, respects his opponents. And when he steps through the ropes, he becomes a different guy, because he wants to win, but it`s not because he wants to hurt somebody. His temperament and character is what sets him apart from a lot of the other fighters I`ve worked with  in the past.

WBC:  Gennady is thirty four years old.  The clock is ticking and no one is immortal.

Abel:  The fortunate thing for Gennady is that he started professional boxing at twenty six, so he doesn`t have the wear and tear.  Secondly,  he hasn`t had really difficult fights.  He hasn`t got beat up in a fight.  As Coaches, we try to limit what we do in the gym to get him ready for a fight.  We don`t have these long drawn out training camps like a lot of the younger guys do, because that`s going to wear him out. So I feel we have five to six years still left in him, and as that time draws closer, the fights are going to be more selective.  It won`t be three or four times per year,  maybe it`ll be two fights a year, because those  fights will be against a particular guy, not just the next guy in line.

WBC:  Is Gennady the best person you`ve ever trained, and when I say best I mean the most intelligent boxer?

Abel:  I`ve prepared three very intelligent fighters in my career, Golovkin being one of them.  Orlin Norris was another, and a young man from here in Mexico called Miguel Angel Gonzalez.  Those three guys used their smarts to do things in the ring that you don`t see, unless you`re with them all the time.  How to set up punches,  how to move an opponent into a punch and it`s fun for a Coach, because you ask them to do things and WOW there they are all of a sudden.  So yes Golovkin is very cerebral, but I think all greats are very cerebral. That`s a trait that they all have.

WBC:  Do you think Gennady will ever have a fight with Canelo?

Abel:  This business of boxing today, will probably prevent that fight from happening any time soon.  If it does happen, it`s not going to be this year obviously and it may not be next year.  Oscar`s talked about that they have a handshake agreement.  To me a handshake agreement is like no agreement at all.  If they sign an agreement, then there`s a better chance, but there`s no reason for Oscar to put his charge in danger of  The Beast, right now who  everyone is afraid of.  So I don`t think we`re going to see that fight in the near future.