Abel Sanchez: ‘Canelo vs. Jacobs is a loser’s bracket fight’

By Sean Jones

Boxingnews24.com

Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez isn’t as impressed with the upcoming unification fight between WBA/WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez and IBF champion Daniel Jacobs as the fans are. Sanchez views the May 4th fight between Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) and Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) as the “consolation bracket” or the “loser’s bracket” between two fighters that have lost to GGG in the past.

Canelo has a recent win over GGG from last September, but Sanchez doesn’t see as a true victory. He calls that a controversial decision and he’s invalidated the judges’ selection of Canelo as their winner. Sanchez thinks Golovkin is now 2-0 against Canelo from their two fights. Whatever the case, Canelo and Jacobs will be fighting for Golovkin’s old IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles on May 4 when they face each other on DAZN at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Do you mean the fight for the consolation bracket for the loser’s bracket?” trainer Abel Sanchez said to Fighthub about the fight between Canelo and Jacobs. “Gennady beat both of those guys. They’re fighting for Gennady’s belts. Do you mean that fight? After the second [Canelo vs. Golovkin fight] there was a poll with the media, 48 of the 50 thought Gennady won. The experts picked Gennady. That’s something he’s gotten over. We just signed with DAZN and got a great deal. He got what he wants. He’s going to fight again. He’s gotten over that, but we’re not going to let people forget that we think that he won,” Sanchez said about Golovkin having forgotten about his loss to Canelo.

Canelo’s controversial decision win over Golovkin in their second fight last September was seen as a black eye for boxing in the eyes of a lot of the fans, because it was the second time that the Golden Boy Promotions star had appeared to lose to Gennady. Sanchez feels that there’s nothing sinister about Canelo being able to dodge defeats when fighting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sanchez sees a trend of fights that have ended under a black cloud of controversy dating back many years in Las Vegas. Sanchez says he doesn’t why there are so many controversial decisions that take place in Vegas, but he has a theory that it’s done by judges, who pick the guy that they perceive as being good for boxing.R

“I think it’s [Canelo vs. Jacobs] a good fight. I don’t think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s a 55-45 fight for Canelo. I think Canelo is the better fighter. I think Canelo has more skills, but Canelo has the onus, he has the pressure on him to perform better against Jacobs than Golovkin did against Jacobs. So he may make mistakes, because he’s going to try to do some things that are maybe not in his nature, but Canelo should win. Canelo [will win] by a decision 116-112. I think that Canelo is the better fighter. It may get easier towards the end. He’ll be coasting, but I don’t think he’ll be taking any chances. I don’t think he’ll take any chances because he doesn’t have to,” Sanchez said.

The general opinion by the fans is that Jacobs will lose the fight to Canelo. For the past couple of years, Jacobs hasn’t looked good his last three fights since his loss to GGG in 2017. Jacobs only looked good for part of the GGG fight. Jacobs certainly wasn’t thinking on his feet in the first six rounds of the fight when he gave them away by not doing anything. When a fighter is willing to give up six rounds by being timid, and staying on the run, that’s a fighter that doesn’t want it badly enough to fight hard when they need to. Jacobs will likely revert to form and fight the same way against Canelo, and end up losing. Hopefully, Jacobs won’t complain afterwards that he was robbed. If he loses to Canelo, it’ll probably be due to him not doing enough to impress the judges. Jacobs didn’t fight hard in his last fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko until the second half of the contest last October. Jacobs just barely won a 12 round split decision.

I think he’s a solid fighter. Both guys have pressure on them to do something different,” Sanchez said about the Canelo vs. GGG III fight. “I just said that 48 out of the 50 guys thought Golovkin won. That has to irk Canelo. I’m sure it irked Golovkin at the beginning, but not anymore, because he’s past it. Canelo must be past that too, but Jacobs saying that he felt that Golovkin won both fights has got to irk him. I feel that both guys [Canelo and GGG] feel that they need a knockout. I don’t feel they need to. I think depending on where the fight is, just like with Danny fighting in Vegas, he’s two fights down already going into the fight. The unfortunate thing is in Las Vegas, it has a history not just in one fight, it has a history of fights where there’s controversy. I don’t know why. If you remember CJ Ross’s scoring a draw for Canelo against Floyd Mayweather. Ridiculous. Byrd that scored it 118-110 for Canelo against Golovkin in the first fight. So for some reason, there’s controversy there every time. I don’t know why. It just seems that they favored Julio Cesar Chavez at the beginning in my era, and then Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] next, and now Canelo. They have a sentiment for the favorite. It shouldn’t be that way. That’s the only explanation I have for all the controversy that’s happened there. I just think they [the judges] look at the future of boxing. I don’t think it’s anybody pressing any buttons. I think the judges get in the box in their chairs, and look at the future of boxing. The benefit is the guy that is [perceived] as the future of boxing. That’s the only thing. I don’t think it’s anything about something coming from the top. I don’t think they’re told to do that. I just think their mindset is, ‘That’s the pretty guy or the guy that’s going to continue.’ He’s 25-years-old, and the other guy is 50-years-old or whatever he is. That’s just the future. I don’t think it’s anything illegal. It’s just human nature,” Sanchez said.R

It’s impossible to say why judges pick certain fighters. It would be in the best for Canelo for the judges to pick the guy that the boxing public sees as the true winner of the fight, be it Alvarez or Jacobs. Canelo did an excellent job of taking the judges out of the equation for his last fight against Rocky Fielding. If Canelo can do that against Jacobs, it would make things easier. Likewise, if Jacobs could score a knockout, then he wouldn’t have to worry about the judges either. If these guys have their game face on when they meet up on May 4, we could see one of them get starched, and it would be great for DAZN. Fights that end in knockout generate a lot of interest with the boxing fans, and it helps build up future fights in the sport. Golovkin became popular in a short period of time by fighting hard, and doing what he had to do in order to get knockouts. That’s how you become a star in boxing. You’ve got to score knockouts.