De La Hoya says Canelo will dominate Golovkin in the rematch

Boxingnews24.com

By Sean Jones

Saul Canelo Alvarez will completely dominate Gennady Golovkin and show that he’s the vast superior fighter of the two in their rematch on September 15, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya. He feels that Golovkin will be totally schooled by Canelo and then knocked out in the end.

Having seen the first fight, it’s hard to envision Canelo being able to throw enough punches to win the fight without gassing.

De La Hoya says historically the better fighter always gets the better of the less skilled fighter in the rematch, and he thinks the 28-year-old Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) is the better schooled fighter than GGG. Of course, Canelo is an Olympic Silver medalist like Golovkin, but De La Hoya still thinks he possesses the better skills.

Canelo didn’t look like the better boxer of the two in the first fight. Canelo looked he wasn’t properly conditioned, and it makes you wonder whether his trainers slipped up by not pushing him harder in training camp to build up stamina. Golovkin was the one that was boxing in the fight by staying on the outside, using his jab. Canelo was staying on the ropes, looking to counter as always. You can’t say that he was doing much other than just waiting like a spider to counter GGG rather than going after him the way a smart fighter would. In the end, it looked like a combination of stamina problems and fear kept Canelo from fighting the way that he needed to in order to have a chance of beating Golovkin. Canelo’s conditioning was bad enough to keep him from winning. The other crucial factor that hurt Canelo was his fear of getting hit by Golovkin. Canelo looked afraid of Golovkin. You can’t be a great fighter if you’re afraid if your opponent the way Canelo looked against GGG last September.

“I absolutely think he can dominate the whole fight with no problem, and then go for the knockout,” De La Hoya said to Fighthub. ”That’s exactly what he wants to do. Canelo knows several ways of fighting; boxing, moving, moving your head, lateral movement…That Golovkin only knows one style and that’s it, move forward and get hit a few times and then knock his opponents out, it’s very predictable,” De La Hoya said.

To dominate the rematch against Triple G, Canelo will need to be a much different fighter than the one that he was in the first fight. That means Canelo must take the intuitive more by coming forward and pushing GGG back rather than vice versa. Canelo only fought a small part of each round last time, counting on the judges to put rounds in the bank for him based on his minimal work. Canelo must change that for the rematch for him to “dominate” Golovkin like De La Hoya says he’s going to do. I don; know if it’s physically possible for Canelo to get the better of a fighter with the size, power, skills and experience that GGG has going for him.

Canelo will a second chance to try and dominate Golovkin when the two face each other on September 15 on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo and his trainers Eddy and Chepo Reynoso came up empty with their poor game plan in the first fight by having him hang on the ropes, and run to his left for 12 rounds. That game plan was an utter failure.

“So I think Canelo’s gonna obviously change up his style and the only way he can change up his style is by being more aggressive, so it calls for a great fight,” De La Hoya said.

Of course, De La Hoya would be on the attack against Golovkin if it was him inside the ring with him on September 15, but he’s a much different fighter than Canelo. De La Hoya wasn’t plagued by major stamina problems during his career the way that Canelo has. The only fight in De La Hoya’s career in which he seemed to be troubled by stamina issues was his fight against Felix Trinidad. De La Hoya was worn down by the pressure from the Puerto Rican star. Canelo has always had stamina problems, but they’ve been disguised for the most part due to him being matched against mostly smaller fighters than himself. Being bigger and stronger than his opponents, Canelo has always been able to fight at a slow enough pace to hide his conditioning issue. When Canelo finally fought someone that was both bigger and more talented than him in Golovkin, he was exhausted from the 3rd round and did little more for the remainder of the fight.

The question is can Canelo change his game like De La Hoya says he’s going to do for him to dominate GGG? I have my doubts. Coming events cast their shadows before. Canelo can’t do in the rematch what he couldn’t do in the first fight with GGG. If Canelo had the talent to dominate Golovkin, he would have showed it 12 months ago in the first fight. Canelo isn’t going to be a better fighter one years later coming off a year of inactivity and knee surgery. You don’t get better by having a knee operation, testing positive twice for clenbuterol and then enjoying yourself for 12 months without fighting. If anything, Canelo will be much worse for the rematch against Golovkin. Canelo will be smaller, weaker and likely still suffering the same stamina problems as he did in the first fight. If Canelo chooses to bum rush Golovkin in the early going, he’s going to take severe punishment by the bigger and stronger fighter, and he’ll likely gas out. Once Canelo fades, it’s either going to be a last stand situation with him perched against the ropes taking withering fire from GGG or he’s going to try and run to his left to escape the fire. I don’t think running is going to work for Canelo this time, which means he’s going to find himself in a last stand situation whether he wants it or not against Golovkin. I think it’s better for Canelo to stand and fight until the bitter end rather than running again. If nothing else, Canelo will gain the respect from his boxing fans by standing and battling Golovkin. It’s better to stand and fight than it is to flee.

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