Canelo says Golovkin doesn’t punch harder than him

Boxingnews24.com

By Sean Jones: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) was in a confident mood today at his media day with middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) in Los Angeles, California.

Canelo and GGG met with the media to discuss their upcoming fight in less than three weeks on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. What was surprising about some of the things Canelo said today was him questioning whether Golovkin hits harder than him. It’s generally understood by the media and the boxing public that Golovkin has more power than Canelo. Golovkin’s 89% knockout percentage vs. Canelo’s 67% KO percentage would suggest that Golovkin hits harder.

Canelo not being able to knockout Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in their fight on May 6 would seem to give a sign that the power isn’t extraordinary for the redheaded Mexican star. He does have good power, but at junior middleweight. None the less, Canelo would only say that Golovkin is stronger in terms of strength, but not in the punching department.

The Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor event fight is out of the way, and Canelo and Golovkin are now ready to get the boxing prepared for their serious fight with true ramifications for the sport. This isn’t MMA vs. Boxing. This is the real thing.

“I feel very good and happy.” said Canelo on Monday’s media day in Los Angeles. “I always like o train and prepare myself for what’s in front of me and physically as well. We have trained for this weight. I’m happy with the work that we’ve done. I think that I’ll be the same weight that I always fight, but obviously stronger. No sacrificing to make weight, even though I still have to cut weight. But I’m stronger, faster,” said Canelo.

In looking at the size of Canelo during Monday’s workout, I think he’s dissentious about him being the same size as before. Canelo is clearly bigger than when he was fighting at 154 and 155, the two weights that he’s been mostly fighting at for the last 3 years. Canelo appears to be the same size as he was for his 164 ½ pound catch-weight fight against super middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6 of this year.

Canelo weighed in at 164 lbs. for that fight, and he looked heavy after he rehydrated. As his usual custom, Canelo’s rehydrated weight wasn’t revealed by HBO during the pay-per-view broadcast. Canelo looked around 180 lbs. It’s unlikely that he would want to put himself in the position where he would need to cut 20 lbs. of weight the week of the fight with Golovkin, but you never know. I do think Canelo will come into the fight at a minimum of 175 lbs. after he rehydrates. That means Canelo will put on 15 lbs. of water weight, which is likely a nice break for him.

Canelo did not seem stronger in his fight against Chavez Jr. than he was when he was weighing in at 154 and 155. The strength appeared to be the same as it was before for him. Canelo didn’t hit hard enough to stop Chavez Jr. The difference between the heavy punches light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara was hitting Chavez Jr. with and the shots Canelo was landing was huge Fonfara was far more powerful than Canelo.

If Canelo actually believes he’s stronger than he was at 154 and 155, he’s kidding himself. He’s not stronger. He’s the same. Canelo also says he’s faster now. That’s not true either. Canelo was a lot faster in his fight against James Kirkland when he was fighter tan he looked against Chavez Jr. and how he looked today in working out.

”Speed will be a big factor, an important factor in this fight,” said Canelo. ”Look, I’ve had big fights, important ones in my career, but this is the most important, the most dangerous of my career at the moment, and I’m taking the challenge. My team and I know this is 14 years’ worth of work. It’s a great responsibility, but we are ready for it. I see it as a fight which there will be a before and after Canelo,” said Canelo.

Canelo does not look faster, bigger or more powerful than Golovkin’s last opponent Danny Jacobs. He appears to be the superior fighter in all three of those departments. If Golovkin was able to handle Jacobs’ power, speed and size, then he should be able to handle Canelo’s skills for this fight. Canelo may have problems if he’s counting on his hand speed carrying hi to victory in this fight. He’s going to need to come up with some other ideas if his speed is not enough for him to beat GGG.

”Maybe he’s stronger than me, maybe,” said Canelo about Golovkin. ”I think though that being stronger than me doesn’t mean he punches harder than me. I have intelligence, and you have to be precise of when to land your punches so they are the same power wise like his or stronger,” said Canelo.

Canelo might as well come out and admit that Golovkin is the bigger puncher of the two. If Canelo doesn’t realize that his opponent Triple G has more punching power than himself, then it suggests that he’s not done his homework properly by studying his fights. Canelo needs to know what he’s up against on September 16 when he gets inside the ring with GGG.

If Canelo thinks he’s going to go in there and work Golovkin over like the punching bag he had in front of him in Chavez Jr. in his last fight, he could wind up getting his head taken off early in the fight.

Canelo does NOT have more power than Golovkin and he never will. No matter how much weight Canelo puts on, he’s always going to be weaker than Golovkin. Canelo should be focusing on his boxing skills, hand speed and defensive skills. Those are the things he has going for him in this fight.

Even Canelo’s youth is not going to be an advantage for him in this fight, being that he doesn’t have great stamina. The stamina is the thing that the younger guys usually have over older fighters, but not in this case. Golovkin has the better stamina and he’s capable of fighting hard for a full three minutes of every round.

”Yes, I know how to handle all of this,” said Canelo about the pressure surrounding this fight. ”The experience I’ve had is the training. Training gives me confidence. KO or decision, it’s all the same to me. For me, it’s all about winning. That’s most important. Well, the people say the winner of this fight is pound-for-pound #1, so we are ready for that. There’s always fighters in their prime, but this is my moment, my era, and that’s how I take it,” said Canelo.

Let’s be honest about Canelo’s experience. He doesn’t have a whole lot of experience against quality fighters. He’s beaten a lot of over-the-hill fighters, and he’s lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and arguably lost to Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout. But the rest of Canelo’s experience has come against guys like Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley, Alfonso Gomez, Ryan Rhodes, Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Josesito Lopez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo. You can say that Mosley, Khan, Kirkland, Angulo, Chavez Jr. and Cintron were all over the hill when Canelo fought them. They weren’t the same fighters when he fought them compared to earlier in their careers.

Golovkin still carrying about fat around his midsection

The thing that I noticed about Golovkin at today’s media workout was the fat around his midsection. Golovkin looks like he’s carrying around a spare tire. That should have been gone already this far into his training camp. There’s only 3 weeks left before the fight, and it’s doubtful that Golovkin is going to be able to take that weight off before the fight. He appears to be carrying around an extra 10 lbs. of fat that wasn’t there previously. He started training camp looking very big with a noticeable paunch. That fat hasn’t disappeared entirely. He’s lost some of it, but there’s a good 10 lbs. of fat still on his midsection, stubbornly staying there. That means Golovkin is not doing enough cardio to burn off the weight. That’s potentially bad news for Golovkin, because it means he might not be able to fight as hard as he used to. If he can’t get Canelo out of there, he’ll need to go the full 12 rounds, and he could wind up losing a decision.