Mayweather not sure if Canelo is fighting GGG at right time

By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. chimed in on the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight on Tuesday, saying that he’s not sure if the 27-year-old Canelo is facing Triple G at the right time or not. It’s unclear whether Mayweather feels that Canelo might need more seasoning or if Golovkin needs to get older for him to be beatable by the redheaded Mexican star.

We do know that Mayweather waited until Manny Pacquiao was old, injured and arguably over-the-hill before he finally fought him in 2015. Mayweather waited 6 years before he fought Pacquiao. It would be disappointing if Mayweather feels that Canelo should have waited until Golovkin was past his prime too before taking him on. If the sport of the boxing is supposed to be the best fighting the best, it’s off putting if you’re waiting until a fighter is shot before you fight him. But I guess that’s how the business of boxing is nowadays.

“With Canelo and Triple G, may the best man win,” said Mayweather to Fighthype. “Me and Canelo had a chance to share the ring. I was the better man. He’s still a hell of a fighter. He’s still explosive. I can’t say it is the right time, because I got to focus on August 26. I will say may the best man win,” said Mayweather in repeating himself.

If Canelo wants to be a crossover PPV star, he’s going to need to start fighting the best in his divisions instead of being put in with guys that lesser fighters. It’s nice that Golden Boy finally made the fight with Golovkin, even though the fight should have taken place 2 years ago. If Canelo doesn’t get annihilated by Golovkin, which many boxing fans are predicting, then he needs to face Danny Jacobs and and Jermall Charlo. If Canelo can’t cut the mustard at 160, then he should move back down to 154. We don’t even know if Canelo can compete with the best at junior middleweight, as he never fought the Charlo brothers or Demetrius Andrade.

You can put an asterisk next to Mayweather’s win over Canelo because he had two things that made it possible for him to beat Canelo. They are as follows:

– Mayweather fought Canelo when he was only 22 and not in his prime.

– Mayweather got Canelo to agree to a 152 pound catchweight for the fight. Canelo looked so weak at the weigh-in, he was sitting in a chair on the stage, looking unwell.

If Golovkin beats Canelo by a knockout, it will take away some of the shine from Mayweather’s win over Canelo. Mayweather didn’t exactly fight a brave fight against Canelo in their bout in 2013. Mayweather took no chances whatsoever in throwing almost exclusively jabs and moving around the ring to avoid mixing it up with him. Mayweather didn’t owe to the boxing public for him to slug with Canelo. He did what he needed to do for him to get a win, but it wasn’t exciting. It was about as boring as Mayweather’s win over Manny Pacquiao. I’d say it was more boring. Mayweather took no chances against Canelo at all. If Triple G is able to knockout Canelo in spectacular fashion, then his victory will send shockwaves through the boxing world. It’ll be a much bigger win for Golovkin than Mayweather’s play it safe win.

Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions couldn’t afford to wait until Golovkin was in his 40s, and officially finished as a fighter. As it is, they waited 2 years until Golovkin was 35, and showing signed of fading. If Golden Boy and Canelo had waited much longer, they would have missed their chance of fighting GGG while he was still unbeaten. It seems obvious that Canelo and Golden Boy didn’t want any part of fighting Golovkin 2 years ago when he was 33 and destroying everybody. They waited until after Golovkin struggled in back to back fights against Kell Brook and Danny Jacobs before they made the fight.

The question is was this on purpose that they waited until Golovkin had two back to back poor efforts or was this just a coincidence. Would Golden Boy had made the Canelo-Golovkin fight if Triple G had destroyed Jacobs and Brook in back to back 1st round knockouts? I doubt it. I think they would let him age two or three years until he finally started to look vulnerable before they made the fight between him and Canelo. You have to realize that Canelo is Golden Boy’s flagship fighter in their stable. Canelo is Golden Boy’s only PPV guy in their entire stable.

If they fed Canelo to Golovkin 2 years ago when Golovkin was obliterating everybody in his path, the outcome would likely have been Canelo massacred in less than 6 rounds. Golovkin is still more than dangerous for a small middleweight without power like Canelo, and this fight could turn out to be a mistake on Golden Boy’s part. The best thing that they can hope for is the fight going the full 12 rounds. If Canelo can go the full distance, he might get some of the scoring that we saw in his fights with Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout. If we get scoring like that, Golovkin doesn’t have a chance. Canelo appeared to lose to Lara and Trout in my opinion, and yet he still ended up winning decisions in both fights. Golovkin will need to make sure that he can get knockout the more popular Canelo if he doesn’t want to end up in the same boat as Lara and Trout.

Some boxing fans would say that Mayweather used his A-side power to weasel a weakening 152lb catchweight to drain Canelo enough for him to beat the Mexican star. Mayweather got Canelo before he hit his prime. Canelo was only 22 when Mayweather fought him, and he got him to agree to a catchweight. It would be a different fight now that Canelo is at the zenith of his career at 27, and finally fighting in the right weight class at 160 pounds. It would be a much different fight between Canelo and Mayweather if the match took place right now.

if this isn’t the right time for Canelo to be fighting GGG, then I don’t know when it will. How old does Golovkin have to be before Mayweather feels comfortable about Canelo fighting him? I don’t see Canelo getting better. He’s not faster than he was 5 years ago. He’s not improving. The match-making being done by Golden Boy has been good for Canelo. He’s not been put in with the dangerous fighters at 154 and 160. We haven’t seen Canelo fight Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Erickson Lubin or Danny Jacobs. Instead, Canelo has fought Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo. Those are notable names, but they are not the best fighters in their weight class. Canelo has been matched carefully guys that he could beat.

I don’t think it’s good for the sport of boxing for fighters to wait until a guy is old before fighting them. You don’t see that kind of thing in the NBA or the NFL. Teams don’t decide whether they’ll play another team based on their thoughts if it’s the right time to play them or not. They have no choice. I guess they might choose to steer around other teams if they were allowed that option, but thankfully they’re not. That’s why you get the best playing the best in those sports. You often don’t get that in boxing. You get fighters being steered around other top fighters until they get old and start showing signs of vulnerability.