Chavez Jr explains why Canelo will never fight Golovkin

By Dan Ambrose” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (50-2-1, 32 KOs) has a theory on why Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) will never in his career face middleweight knockout artist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), and it it comes down to him being simply afraid of getting in the ring with him. Chavez Jr. says that Canelo sparred with Golovkin in the past, and the power was too much for him and he decided he didn’t want to face him.

Chavez Jr. has taken a great of pleasure kicking sand in the face of Canelo by repeatedly reminding the boxing public that he’s steered around Golovkin in the past. Chavez Jr. always seems to chuckle when he talks about Canelo seemingly ducking GGG. Chavez Jr. thinks Canelo just flat out fears Golovkin and wants no part of him because of that reason. Chavez Jr. is not the ducking type of fighter. He took on Sergio Martinez during the prime of his career in 2012, and got a boxing lesson from him.

We at Boxing News 24 hear frequently how Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions will be matching his redheaded star with Golovkin in September. Chavez Jr. does not believe that Canelo will be taking the fight with Triple G after the sparring session they had. Chavez Jr. says Canelo is too small, his stamina too power, and his boxing skills not good enough for him to take the fight with Golovkin. If this turns out to be true about Canelo wanting no part of GGG, then the magic question is why is De La Hoya continually saying that he’s going to match his golden goose against the Kazakhstan knockout machine?

“I thought Canelo had a chance [to beat GGG], but after that I think Golovkin will win because Canelo spar Triple G, and he feel Golovkin. That’s why he don’t fight Golovkin,” said Chavez Jr. to esnewsreporting. “He don’t feel like he can beat the guy, because he’s a smaller guy. Really, Triple G is good boxer. He go to the Olympics and have a silver medal, and he’s got good power. He’s a better boxer than Canelo, and have better conditioning and he’s a real natural middleweight,” said Chavez Jr.

Canelo could start losing fans if he doesn’t take the fight with Golovkin soon. If the boxing public sees Canelo as too chicken to face Golovkin, they might start abandoning ship to become fans of other fighters that are willing to take risks in their careers, and have no problems at fighting at the full weight in their respective divisions.

It would be a shame if Canelo never faces Golovkin because the fans want to see the fight in the worst way. Canelo needs Golovkin in order to get to the next level in terms of PPV buys. If you wonder why Caneo has never broken the 1 million PPV barrier in his career, it probably has to do with his lack of wins over quality fighters. When boxing fans don’t see Canelo’s opponents having much of any chance at beating him, then it obviously impacts PPV sales. Fans want to see competitive fights for Canelo on PPV; not mismatches against Amir Khan and Liam Smith.

You hate to sell Canelo short by questioning his nerves and overall courage as a boxer, but it did look peculiar last year when the Mexican star dropped his WBC middleweight title when he was ordered by the World Boxing Council to defend his belt against Golovkin. When a fighter vacates their title in order not to face a certain challenger, it is seen as them ducking the fighter to avoid a potential embarrassing loss.

Canelo vacated his WBC title just last year. This didn’t have 7 or more years ago. This is recent history. I don’t know what else you can say about Canelo’s decision to give up his WBC title when ordered to fight Golovkin. This isn’t a move that boxing greats of the past would likely pull. Could you picture Roberto Duran giving up his title after being ordered to face a particular challenger? I know I couldn’t.

There is no love lost because Canelo and Chavez Jr. The two fighters do not like each other. Canelo probably isn’t too happy that Chavez Jr. keeps reminding the fans how he’s avoided taking the fight with Golovkin. Chavez Jr. doesn’t say whether Canelo’s overall objective is to wait Golovkin out until he’s too old to fight. Golovkin just turned 35 this month. He’s now been trying to get Canelo to fight him for at least the last 2 years, possibly as long as 4 years.

Having to wait all that time to get a fight against Canelo can’t be a good feeling for Golovkin. He was obviously ready to take the fight with Canelo a long time ago, but he didn’t get it for some reason. Canelo has been too busy fighting Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland and Miguel Cotto.

Canelo needed to fight Golovkin a long time ago to show the boxing world that he’s not just an overhyped fighter that is popular because of the way he looks rather than for who he fights. Let’s face it; Canelo has only fought 3 fighters you can truly call good fighters in his career in Floyd Mayweather Jr., Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout. Cotto was a good fighter when was younger, but he wasn’t a really good fighter by the time Canelo fought him in 2015.

If Canelo beats Chavez Jr. in style by knocking him out on May 6, there might be a chance that we could see Golovkin as his next opponent in December. It would be a welcome relief for the fans who thought they would never see Canelo finally face Golovkin.

After Golovkin, Canelo is going to have other challenges by guys like Jermall Charlo and Daniel Jacobs. If Canelo is going to remain in the middleweight division, he’s going to be expected to fight those guys. Canelo can’t wait them out until they’re older, because those guys are too close to his own age. Charlo is the same age as Canelo at 26, and he looks like he can fight at a high level for the next 10 years.

The 30-year-old Jacobs is a little older than Canelo, but he’s got the kind of punching power and size that will allow him to remain in the division as a top guy for a long time to come. The only question mark about Jacobs is how much longer he can continue to make weight for the middleweight division.

Jacobs was reportedly 180lbs on the night of his fight last month against Golovkin on March18. Losing 20 lbs. to make weight each time he fights has got to be hard on his body. You can only do that so many times before you eventually fail to make weight or are weakened from the water weight loss.