Canelo: My fighting style is superior to Golovkin’s

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) is training for his clash with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) on September 16, and he wants the boxing fans to know that he has the superior fighting style of the two. Canelo, 27, is a stationary counter puncher, who waits for his opponents to attack him with combinations so that he can land his left hook counter, which is by far his best weapon.

Canelo doesn’t have much of a jab. He tends to get out-jabbed, even by shorter foes. The 5’7” Miguel Cotto was able to out-jab Canelo from the outside.

“I’m a fighter who is a counter puncher, and his style is a come forward style, so I think both styles will lead to a great fight. My style, the style that I have, is superior to his style,” said Canelo.

I don’t think Canelo can really say for sure whether his fighting style is better than Golovkin’s. Right now, Canelo doesn’t have a lot of solid wins over the best fighters in boxing. Canelo has a lot of wins over fighters from yesterday like Shane Mosley, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo, Kermit Cintron and James Kirkland. Those are not the top guys from this era at middleweight. Khan isn’t even a middleweight. He’s someone that Golden Boy Promotions picked out from the welterweight division to fight Canelo last year. I hate to say it, but Golden Boy has been spoon-feeding Canelo fodder for pretty much his entire pro career.

Feeding Canelo pablum while steering him around the talented fighters like the Charlos, Demetrius Andrade, Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs, Golden Boy has done a great job of making him look good. We just don’t know if Canelo is any better than guys like David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens, mainly because he hasn’t been matched against the top caliber fighters. The last fight that Canelo had against a weight drained past his prime Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was more indicative of the way he’s been brought along by Golden Boy. The Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight would have made sense if it were made 5 years ago in 2012, but not in 2017. Chavez Jr. is not the fighter he once was.

Golovkin uses his jab to start things out when he goes on the attack. At 5’10 ½”, Golovkin will have the size advantage over Canelo in this fight. Canelo can’t counter a jab with his left hook. We’ve already seen that Canelo can’t land his left hook when he’s being jabbed from the outside.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and Erislandy Lara were all able to jab Canelo from the outside without him being able to land his counter punches. Canelo was at times able to hit Lara o the body when he would cut off the ring, but he would pay the price by getting stuck with jabs while coming in.

Canelo missed frequently with his left hook against Lara, due to him not letting him get close enough to land it. Golovkin got the better of Daniel Jacobs using his jab. When Golovkin was having problems with Jacobs in the second half of the fight, he relied on his power jab to shut the 6’0” Jacobs down with head-snapping shots. Canelo is a lot shorter than Jacobs at 5’8”, with shorter arms.

Golovkin used his jab to nail Kell Brook and David Lemieux. The jab was extremely important for Golovkin against Lemieux. Golovkin controlled the fight with Lemieux without getting hit with his enormous power shots. Lemieux is a bigger puncher than Canelo with either hand. Lemieux is also taller than Canelo. Golovkin neutralized Lemieux’s power with his jab.

Canelo will not be able to counter Golovkin’s jab if he chooses to use it the entire fight. Canelo has good upper body movement, but he’s not going to be able to move enough to make enough of Golovkin’s jabs to miss for him to win rounds. Even if Golovkin’s jabs land at only a 20 percent rate, if those are the only punches that are landing in the fight, then it’s going to make for the scoring from the judges to be one-sided in Golovkin’s favor.

Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez says they want to look good by brawling on September 16. The plan is not to jab Canelo and make it boring for the boxing fans. Sanchez wants it to be an exciting fight. Golovkin’s fights with Danny Jacobs and Lemieux were not thrilling to watch. The reason for that was because of all the jabs that Golovkin threw.

“Canelo is boxing’s most disciplined fighter. He takes every training camp very seriously and I know that he will be in the best shape of his life for this showdown with Golovkin on Sept. 16,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya.

Despite Canelo being in seemingly good shape for all of his fights, he needs to take rest breaks after he expends energy. Canelo can’t stay in the pocket and throw combinations for an extended amount of time without needing to back up against the ropes and rest. If Golovkin jumps on Canelo from the opening round like he did in his fight against Willie Monroe Jr. in 2015, we could see Canelo gas out and get stopped. The need for rest breaks is the Achilles heel for Canelo.

To be sure, Canelo is always in shape. There’s no question about that. But in fights where Canelo had problems, it didn’t matter that he was in decent shape. He still struggled. Being in shape can help Canelo up to a point. But if he doesn’t have the talent or the chin to beat GGG, then he’s going to lose the fight against him.

It’s going to be extremely difficult for Canelo to get past Golovkin’s jab if he chooses to use that as his primary weapon on September 16. Without the reach, Canelo is going to have to move quickly to close distance each time for him to get near enough to Golovkin to land his counter left hand. Golovkin won’t throw his jab when Canelo is right on top of him. Instead, he’ll load up with a left hook or a fight hand and look to nail him.

If Canelo can nullify Golovkin’s jab, then the Kazakhstan fighter is going to turn the fight into an all-out brawl like the one that Canelo was hoping to have against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6. Chavez Jr. couldn’t go to war with Canelo due to him being weight drained from having lost 70 pounds in training camp to get down to the 164.5-pound catch-weight for the fight. A war between Canelo and Golovkin plays into Golovkin’s favor. That’s how he’s fought his entire career, and he’s the bigger, stronger fighter of the two. Golovkin is a natural middleweight.

Canelo is a guy that started his career out at welterweight and grew his way into the junior middleweight division. Canelo’s frame is that of a junior middleweight. The lack of height and reach is going to be a problem for Canelo for as long as he stays in the 160-pound division. Golden Boy Promotions is going to have a tough time in matching Canelo if he decides to remain at middleweight following the Golovkin fight. If Canelo gets jabbed to pieces by Golovkin, then Golden Boy needs to sit Canelo down and have a long hard talk with him about him moving back down to 154.