Gennady Golovkin predicts Canelo will find more excuses to avoid him

Gennady Golovkin still has that pleasant demeanor about him, but he’s becoming increasingly hostile when talking about Canelo Alvarez pushing off their highly anticipated fight. As of right now Canelo and his Golden Boy promoter have tentatively suggested a September 2017 showdown with Golovkin, but Golovkin tells the LA Times that he believes it’s “impossible” for Canelo to agree to fight him by then. In fact, Golovkin says he believes Canelo will try to push off the fight for at least three more years.

“Canelo, he’s talking too much. He’s not smart, not respectful of people,” Golovkin said. “Everybody wants to watch this fight. He’s just scared.

“Canelo and [promoter] Golden Boy — everybody around Canelo — understands, and they’re all scared,” Golovkin said. “He’s their Golden Child. If he’s finished, no money from him, no business.”

Golovkin is 100% spot on in this analysis as far as I see it, particularly about the “golden child” aspect. As a promotional company, Canelo is really the sole remaining poker chip in Golden Boy’s bank. And because of this Golden Boy is extremely deliberate in playing their hand — they just aren’t going to throw Canelo into dangerous fights on a whim…or even on demand. It’s really just prudent business in that respect, but it especially sucks for fans who just want to see the best fights out there. That’s just what it is.

Golovkin continues by saying that it’s a nightmare scenario for Golden Boy to have Canelo thrashed in a one-sided fight, which is exactly how he believes the fight would play out. So in the meanwhile Golovkin says he can already envision the next round of excuses coming from Canelo’s side, saying he thinks Golden Boy will throw him a low-ball offer to get out of negotiations next year.

“The next step is for Canelo to say, ‘I’m ready. I’m size A, [Golovkin] is size B, and I’ll give him $2 million,'” Golovkin predicted. “Then, [Alvarez] can say, ‘What? He won’t take that? He’s not ready? I’m ready.’

“It’s a 50-50 fight, but that’s what he’s going to do. It’s a game to him.”

As far as games go, I’m more of a Monopoly kind of guy myself — but only if I can be the bank.