Canelo Alvarez to begin high altitude training in Colorado on March 3 or 4

Boxingnews24.com

By Sean Jones Saul ‘Canelo Alvarez and his trainers will be traveling to the mountains of Colorado on March 3 or 4 to begin high altitude training for the May 5th rematch against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin.

This appears to have been a recent decision made by Canelo’s trainers Chepo and Eddie Reynoso to try and keep pace with Golovkin, who trains in the mountains of Big Bear, California with his trainer Abel Sanchez.

Golovkin always trains in Big Bear, and he’s known for having excellent conditioning in his fights. The 27-year-old Canelo is hoping he can improve his stamina for the rematch, as he was tired most of the first fight with Golovkin on September 16th last year at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canelo fought well for the first 2 rounds, but after that, he tanked out and spent most of the fight running along the ropes, taking big gulps of air and looking red in the face and upper body.

“I think that you only have to arrive with excellent physical condition, to throw more punches, which in my opinion was what was missing in closed rounds, which could have thrown 5.6 or 10 more shots, would have been the difference for the closed rounds to give them to him (Canelo),” Trainer Chepo Reynoso said to ESPN Deportes.

Reynoso saying that Canelo only has to land 5 to 10 more shots per round to beat Golovkin suggests that he’s going to look to hit and move like he did last time he fought him. Canelo was landing one or two shots on Golovkin, and then he move to the left along the ropes to keep from getting hit. Canelo was also moving to his left after eating jabs on the ropes.

Golovkin let Canelo get away from him because he was standing too far away from him. If Golovkin had been in close, he could have shifted his feet and stayed with Canelo on the ropes and forced him into a last stand. It would have been one of those brutal last stands that you see on the battlefield. Canelo would have been forced to fight until his gas tank emptied and then he’d either be knocked out or his trainers would be forced to throw in the white towel to save their fighter.

Trainers Chepo & Eddie Reynoso believe the only thing Canelo needs to improve upon to beat Golovkin is his physical conditioning. They might not realize that Canelo showed no willingness to stand and fight Golovkin even when he wasn’t tired at the start of each round. When Canelo was strong in the opening minute of each round, he would throw a few pot shots, and then run from Golovkin.

There was no fatigue that was causing Canelo to dash away from Golovkin. That was simply a case of Canelo not enjoying getting hit by the Kazakhstan fighter. Canelo’s tendency not to want to mix it up with Golovkin is the real culprit that led to him losing rounds and appearing to get beaten soundly. The judges didn’t give Golovkin the win, but he won in the eyes of the boxing public.

Canelo’s problems against Golovkin were caused by these factors:

1. Canelo not being willing to stand and fight – The reason for this could be design as part of the game plan, although I don’t believe that. Canelo looked like he didn’t have the courage to fight Golovkin. So each time Golovkin could attack him, Canelo would try and land one or two shots, and then run away from him. It looked like Canelo lacked the heart to fight.

2. Poor stamina – This is the area that Chepo and Eddie Reynoso are blaming Canelo’s poor efforts against Golovkin last September. They’re not seeing what I and many boxing fans observed in Canelo during the fight. The fans saw clearly that Canelo lacked the courage to fight Golovkin. Golovkin’s relentless pressure had Canelo looking as nervous as a cat. Canelo wanted no part of the pressure from Golovkin, so he would take off running. The conditioning problems that Canelo displayed against Golovkin are very real, and they’re not new problems. These are issues that have been in existence since Canelo turned pro. That’s why I would hope that Canelo is given a good medical checkup before he faces Golovkin, because if there’s something that is slowing him down due to his ticker, then no amount of training in the mounts of Colorado is going to fix that problem. Canelo has had his stamina since he started his career in 2005 at the age of 15-years-old. Having stamina problems all those years suggests to me that this is something that can’t be fixed, because if it could, it would have already. I think the only think Canelo can do against Golovkin is to try and win rounds the way he did last time by hitting and running from him. Maybe if Canelo play hit and run long enough, he’ll win enough rounds to get a decision. It’ll be ugly of course, because the boxing public wants to see Canelo fight instead of run. But if Canelo lacks the cardiovascular system to fight Golovkin in a one on one war for 12 rounds, then he’s got to try and spoil his way to a win by winning ugly.

Unfortunately, Canelo’s conditioning might not be fixable. He’s always had stamina problems since he was a teenager, and the problem seems to be getting worse now that he’s getting near 30 and he’s putting on more muscle. It might be something that will never be fixed. It would be smart for Canelo to have a full medical checkup before he goes into the Golovkin rematch to make sure there’s something that might the limiting factor that is keep him from fighting hard for more than 1 minute per round. It’s inexplicable to understand how a 27-year-old middleweight is only capable of fighting hard for the first 1 minute of each round. You see stuff like that with heavyweights, but not with middleweights. Canelo fights like someone much older than his chronological age. You see guys in their 40s only capable of fighting hard for the first minute of each round, but when you see someone at 27 with that problem, it’s troubling.

“We will arrive in Colorado on March 3 or 4. There we intend to take advantage of the altitude,” Chepo Reynoso said

It might be a big waste of time for Canelo to be taken to the mountains of Colorado to work on his conditioning. I’m from a track background myself. When I see a guy like Canelo, it reminds me of all the weight guys that I had on my track teams over the years. None of them could run at all without gassing out. Canelo is built just like them. He’s a carbon copy of them. The best thing Canelo can to improve his stamina is to lose 15 lbs. of muscle that he packed in a hurry the last time he fought GGG. Canelo should then get on the track and run a lot of hard 200 to 400 meter sprints until his lungs feel like bursting. I would have Canelo run 200 meter sprints x 10 and then 400 meter sprints x 5. I would then take him to the a big hill and have him sprint to the top of the hill. I would have Canelo run 10 hills. After that workout is over, then he can start his boxing training for the day after he takes an hour rest. I’d put Canelo on double days on the track. I’d have him there in the morning and then the evening. By the time I was done training Canelo, he’d have the best conditioning of his life. Of course, that wouldn’t help him take the hard punches any better than before. Canelo would still need a good chin and a lot of courage for him to stand up to the big shots from GGG.

If Canelo can’t take the heat from Golovkin, then it probably doesn’t matter what kind of condition he’s in. Canelo will wind up running from Golovkin and lose the fight. I’d like to hope that Canelo will be smart enough to know that he can’t be seen running from Golovkin, because that’s not going to work. You can’t run from the battlefield. Julio Cesar Chavez never fan from his opponents. Salvador Sanchez didn’t run from his opponents. Those Mexican greats stood and fought. Canelo did the opposite of those greats against Golovkin last September. Even Floyd Mayweather Jr. stood his ground in his fights. The only fighter Mayweather ran from was Carlos Baldomir, and he was booed unmercifully by the boxing fans that at ringside for that fight. Mayweather stopped running after the Baldomir fight and he learned how to stay in the pocket and win his fights.

Golovkin wanted the tiebreaker with Canelo to take place last December, but the Mexican star wanted to rest 8 months because it was such a hard fight for him. Canelo is 27 and Golovkin is 35. The older fighter wanted to get back in the ring, but the younger guy didn’t feel up to it. Some boxing fans think that Canelo intentionally wanted to delay the fight 8 months so he could age Golovkin a little more and hope that he’s lost a little more from his game so he can beat him this time. Golovkin had to wait 2 years to fight Canelo. Golovkin wanted to fight Canelo when he was 33, but he and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions weren’t ready to fight Golovkin back then.