Froch picks Canelo to beat Golovkin

Boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is picking Saul Canelo Alvarez to rise to the occasion and send IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin down to defeat in their fight on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Froch says he’s not impressed with what he’s seen of the 35-year-old Golovkin lately in his fights, and he thinks he’s getting old and is past his best. Froch feels that Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) gets hit too much for him to defeat the 27-year-old Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs).

Canelo will be challenging GGG on September 16 on HBO pay-per-view. It’s a big fight. There would be a lot more said about the fight if not for the huge mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor, which has overshadowed the Canelo-Golovkin fight from the moment the news of the fight was announced. Some believe that Mayweather intentionally staged his fight with McGregor 3 weeks ahead of the Canelo vs. GGG fight to upstage it and get back at Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy.

It’s unknown if that’s the case. But unless Mayweather continues to keep making comebacks each time Canelo and GGG fight each other, he’s not going to be able to continue to upstage that fight into the future. Mayweather’s fight against McGregor is likely going to be a one and done type of affair.

“Canelo Alvarez for me in a close one,” said Froch to IFL TV in making his prediction on the Canelo-Golovkin fight. “I think Golovkin’s just past his best. He’s getting old. I think Alvarez wins that, because I think Golovkin is just past his best. But Golovkin might just win, smash him and knock him out. It’s boxing, isn’t it? But if I had to pick a winner, I’m picking Canelo Alvarez to beat Golovkin. I think Golovkin is past his best, I really do. I’ve not been impressed, because he gets hit too much,” said Froch.

Golovkin has the size, power and the jab to knockout Canelo. Froch might not be aware of Golovkin’s boxing ability. Froch worked the Golovkin’s fight against Brook last September, and he was critical of him for the way he fought. Golovkin wore Brook down and stopped him in the 5th round, and he did what he had to do for him to get the victory. Froch still wasn’t impressed. Golovkin was in a no-win situation fighting Brook, a welterweight. Had Golovkin boxed, Brook instead of slugging it out, he would have come across to some boxing fans as looking scared. Golovkin fought Brook the only way he could fight that kind of opponent and that was by going after him from the first bell, looking to knock him out. Golovkin did the job, but he took some shots along the way. That happens in boxing. You get hit when you look for a knockout.

Abel Sanchez, the trainer for Golovkin, has already said that the game plan for the Canelo fight is to try and knock him out quickly. Sanchez doesn’t believe the judges will give Golovkin a decision against Canelo. It’s going to be a fire fight if Golovkin comes out swinging for the fences. Canelo likes when his opponents come straight at him, since he likes to counter punch. However, Liam Smith was working Canelo over in their fight last September with his pressure. Smith tired out by round 5. If he didn’t tire, he would have been a real problem for Canelo. If you insert Golovkin into the picture for that same fight, Canelo would have had some serious issues on his hands.

Golovkin did not look good in either of his last 2 fights against Kell Brook and Daniel Jacobs, but he still won both of those fights. I don’t know if it’s fair to Golovkin to attribute his struggles against them to age though. Brook is a big welterweight, who should have been fighting at 154 for the last several years of his career. Brook rehydrates to the 170s, which makes him as big as Golovkin in terms of his weight.

We saw Canelo struggle badly in his fight against welterweight Amir Khan last year in losing rounds 1 through 4 in the eyes of many boxing fans. Canelo did come on to knock Khan out in round 6, but he took a lot of shots from him and was out-boxed through most of the fight. Canelo didn’t take as much heat as Golovkin though because of the way the fight ended. Canelo would have had just as many problems fighting Kell Brook and Danny Jacobs that Golovkin did.

I’m not sure what Froch’s criticism would be for Canelo if he struggled against those 2 fighters. Would Froch say Canelo is too young or just not good enough? Froch couldn’t say that Canelo is getting old. That argument would seem goofy. I get the impression that Froch doesn’t realize how good Kell Brook and Danny Jacobs are as fighters.

Golovkin really didn’t try and box Brook. He was trying to destroy him from the 1st round, and he didn’t seem to care that he was taking shots from him while he was in the process of going after him. Golovkin boxed Jacobs and didn’t get hit that much. If you look at that fight, Golovkin was picking off Jacobs’ shots on his gloves. It looked like Jacobs was landing in the second half of the fight, but the shots being blocked. Froch sounds like he’s not familiar enough with Brook and Jacobs to realize how good they are.