Sergio Mora favors Canelo over Golovkin

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Former junior middleweight world champion Sergio “Latin Snake” Mora is giving the edge to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez over Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their fight on September 16. Mora says he previously was picking Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) to win that fight, but he’s now changed his mind after seeing how dominant Canelo was in beating an over-matched Julio Chavez Jr. by a 12 round unanimous decision on May 6. Canelo won every round in beating Chavez Jr. by the scores 120-108, 120-108 and 120-108.

The REAL Chavez Jr. didn’t show up for that. Chavez Jr. blamed his lackluster performance on him being weight drained from having been too heavy going into training camp and needing to melt down to the 164.5 pound catch-weight that was written into the contract. Mora still believes that was an impressive accomplishment for Canelo to beat a guy as big as Chavez Jr. Further, Mora says Chavez Jr. was the perfect tune-up to get Canelo ready for the September 16th fight against Gennady Golovkin.

“For a long time, I said Golovkin gets the better of Canelo, but after what Canelo did to a huge Chavez Jr., he basically whitewashed him, I’ve got to give the edge to Canelo slightly, because he looked really good against a big guy,” said Sergio Mora to Villianfy Media in picking Canelo to beat Golovkin. “The way he took Chavez Jr’s power, but he didn’t get hit with anything. He was able to stay cool in the pocket with a guy that big and strong, and going against the ropes and catching punches and not getting bothered by that mass, by that size, by that heaviness. That says a lot,” says Mora.

As good as Canelo looked against Chavez Jr. in their fight on May 6, you can’t really get anything from watching that fight, because Chavez Jr. wasn’t throwing punches. What Canelo did to Chavez Jr. is no different than any fighter in boxing would have done if they were in the ring with him. Chavez Jr. looked weak, lethargic and incredibly timid from start to finish.

Chavez Jr. would have lost to pretty much anyone in the top 100 in that fight. Even 2nd tier fighters would have beaten the brakes off of Chavez Jr. in that fight. Chavez Jr. was there in body only in soaking up punishment for 12 rounds, and performing terribly. It’s unclear how Sergio Mora sees Canelo’s win over a human punching bag as good preparation for a fight against Golovkin.

It doesn’t say much about Golovkin that Mora sees Chavez Jr. as the perfect preparation for a fighting him. Chavez Jr. fights nothing like Golovkin, especially with the way he fought Canelo. I don’t know who Chavez Jr. would be good preparation? I don’t see Chavez Jr. being good preparation for fighting anyone in the top 15, because the contenders actually throw punches and aren’t weak and weight drained for their fights. Chavez Jr. would be good preparation for Canelo to fight a timid novice that has never laced up the gloves, but DEFINITELY not Golovkin.

That was a joke fight, and bad for boxing. Having mismatches like that doesn’t help Golden Boy Promotions, Canelo or the sport of boxing. Having seen how terrible Chavez Jr. looked in his last fight against Dominik Britsch, I knew it was going to be a terrible money grab type of fight between Canelo and Chavez Jr. There was a time many years ago when Chavez Jr. was arguably a flawed paper champion, but that brief point in his career is done. Chavez Jr. is now a fighter that appears to be completely over-the-hill.

Chavez Jr. is a lot bigger than Golovkin, but Golovkin is a lot better than Chavez Jr. I’m not saying it’s a big edge, but a slight edge will go to Canelo,” said Mora in picking Canelo to beat Golovkin.

“I think it was the perfect tune-up fight or Canelo to go into the Golovkin fight,” said Mora about Canelo’s mismatch against Chavez Jr. “Stylistically and the fact that he got in there with such a big, big guy, I think it was the PERFECT tune-up. We’re used to [Floyd] Mayweather being in charge of May and September. It’s Canelo’s day, and rightfully so. It’s going to be a big holiday and a big Mexican weekend,” said Mora about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight on September 16.

I don’t know how Mora can say with a straight face that Chavez Jr. was the perfect tune-up fight to get Canelo ready for Golovkin. There’s nothing in Chavez Jr’s game that made him an adequate tune-up to get Canelo ready for what he’ll be facing in a fight against Golovkin. Chavez Jr. was more of an imperfect tune-up for Canelo to get ready for Golovkin. Golden Boy Promotions didn’t do Canelo any favors by putting Chavez Jr. in the ring with him before the Golovkin fight. It was the equivalent of having Canelo fight a bush league fighter with no boxing skills, no motivation, and no power because of him being weight drained.

Canelo-Chavez Jr. was such a bad fight that it angered a lot of the boxing fans that purchased it on HBO PPV. If you’re trying to increase Canelo’s popularity to make him a crossover star in the U.S among fans, then you don’t throw an over-the-hill punching bag in the ring with him and hope that you can get a bunch of PPV buys out of the mismatch. You do the right thing by having Canelo fight someone that will actually bring it like Danny Jacobs, Ryota Murata, Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Demetrius Andrade or Tureano Johnson.

There are a small handful of tough fighters at 154 and 160 that Golden Boy Promotions could have matched against Canelo to get him ready for a fight against Golovkin. Chavez Jr. was the worst opponent that I could think of to get Canelo prepared for Golovkin, because it wasn’t even a fight.

Here are the reasons why Chavez Jr. wasn’t a good tune-up to get Canelo ready for Golovkin:

– Chavez Jr. didn’t throw punches

– The shots Chavez Jr. did throw were incredibly weak

– Chavez Jr. was weight drained for the Canelo fight. Golovkin will not be weight drained. He’s going to be strong and well-rested from having been out of the ring since March.

– Chavez Jr. was slow, much slower than Golovkin.

– Chavez Jr. is a lot bigger than Golovkin in height and weight. Fighting a big guy like Chavez Jr. might help Canelo get ready to fight a super middleweight or light heavyweight fighter that doesn’t throw punches. Golovkin is more of a junior middleweight sized fighter, who only rehydrates to around 170 lbs. for his fights. Chavez Jr. was clearly in the 180s on the night of his fight with Canelo. It made no sense at all for Canelo to be fighting a big guy like Chavez Jr. to get prepared for a much smaller fighter like Golovkin.

“He quit against [Andrzej] Fonfara and now he got embarrassed and whitewashed by Canelo,” said Mora about Chavez Jr. in discussing where he goes from here following his latest loss to Canelo. “He has the name, and people seem to forgive and forget really quick when they want to. [Danny] Jacobs knocks him out at 160 or 168. Jacobs is the most powerful guy I’ve been in the ring with. He [Chavez Jr] doesn’t duck or dodge. He takes shots completely. That’s not going to work with Jacobs. I see it as an 8tb or 9th round knockout. I think it would be a good fight though, because Jacobs is suspect with punches and defense. But Jacobs all the way,” said Mora.

I don’t think Chavez Jr. was serious when he mentioned wanting to fight Danny Jacobs next. I think Chavez Jr. was just talking to get attention from the boxing media. That would be a terrible fight for Chavez Jr. to face Jacobs, and more importantly, it would be an awful fight for the boxing fans. Who wants to see Jacobs beat up on a reluctant fighter who doesn’t throw punches? If Chavez Jr. is going to continue his career, he needs to start low by fighting lesser guys and show that he can beat these type o opponents before he moves up to facing contenders and world class fighters. At this point, I don’t think there’s anyone that Chavez Jr. can beat in the top 15 at 160 or 168.