Canelo: I’m knocking Golovkin out [and taking away his excuses]

Boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: Saul Canelo Alvarez says he’s going to knockout Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin in their rematch on May 5th and take away his excuses about the judging that he had from their fight last September at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Canelo-Golovkin rematch was made official on Monday after 3 long months of negotiations between Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions and GGG’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2. The fight is assigned, but they still need to agree on a venue. The venue could ultimately determine who the winner is unfortunately.

Canelo seems to do well with the scoring of his fights in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo has only lost once in Vegas, and that was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Even in that one-sided fight, 1 judge had Canelo earning a draw. Golovkin doesn’t want to go back to Las Vegas for the second fight and neither does Loeffler. They’re hoping to get the Canelo vs. Golovkin rematch to be staged in New York.

“I’m delighted to once again participate in one of the most important boxing events in history,” said Canelo Alvarez. “This second fight is for the benefit and pleasure of all fans who desire to see the best fight the best. This time, [Gennady] Golovkin won’t have any excuses regarding the judges because I’m coming to knock him out.”

If Canelo wants to knockout Golovkin, he’ll need to make more of an effort of getting off the ropes and pressing the attack. What Canelo was doing last time against GGG was languishing against the ropes, taking deep breaths due to fatigue, and then trying to steal the rounds by landing a few shots. Canelo was stalling most of the time, using up the clock by hanging on the ropes and eating jabs.

Coming from an amateur wrestling background myself, you can tell when someone is just stalling. Canelo was using up the rounds by doing little. Canelo won’t be able to do that against Golovkin in the rematch if he wants to knock him out, because he’s not the type that can be knocked out with 1 or 2 hard punches landed per round.

Canelo will need to put in some effort to come forward and attack Golovkin in a serious way like he did at times in the 11th and 12th rounds last September in their first fight. Canelo never hurt Golovkin though in that fight. Canelo knocked Golovkin back once in the 11th with a hard shot, but there was no follow up by the redheaded Mexican star.

Canelo looked satisfied with landing a single shot, and that was that. At the end of the day, Canelo might not have what it takes in the stamina department for him to knock Golovkin out. The only fighter that has given Golovkin a little bit of problems was Kell Brook when he hit him a series of head shots in the 2nd round of their fight 2 years ago in September 2016. Golovkin took the blows well, and came back to break Brook’s eye socket and stop him in the 5th round.