Gennady Golovkin re-enrolls with VADA through Sept.15

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox

Gennady Golovkin has re-enrolled with VADA through September 15, which is a date that just happens to coincide with the date that Saul Canelo Alvarez will be fighting next. Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) is hoping to face the Mexican star Canelo to knockout this time and make sure that the judges don’t get a chance to put their own slant on the outcome like what happened last September in the first Caenlo-GGG fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the view of a lot of boxing fans, the Canelo vs. Golovkin II rematch is already badly tainted due to Alvarez’s two positive tests for the banned substance clenbuterol. Canelo blaming the positive tests on having eaten contaminated meat in Mexico made him look even more guilty in the eyes of many fans, who saw him not only guilty but also a liar. The rematch between the two middleweights is viewed by some boxing fans as a natural fighter in Golovkin facing a drug cheat in Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs). There’s not much that can be done to change those perceptions on the short term because it takes time for boxing fans to forget and forgive when a fighter has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, and Canelo and GGG aren’t going to wait 10 to 20 years for the fans to forget. All Canelo and Gennady can hope is fans still want to see the rematch badly enough to pay to see it in high numbers, so they can make money.

Earlier on Tuesday, Golovkin, 36, and his IBF mandatory Sergey Derevyanchenko attended a hearing with the International Boxing Federation to decide on the mandatory that GGG has due in early August. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler, trainer Abel Sanchez and his lawyers were there, according to Dan Rafael. Derevyanchenko’s co-promoter Lou DiBella was there, as well as his manager Keith Connolly and his lawyer. Both sides had time to talk it out with the IBF. Derevyanchenko wants his IBF mandated title shot against Golovkin in August. Golovkin wants to be able to put off the fight until after he faces Canelo in September. Fighting Derevyanchenko in August would make it impossible for Golovkin to return to the ring one month later to face Canelo in a rematch on September 15. Even if Golovkin knocked Derevyanchenko out in the first seconds of the 1st round in August, it still wouldn’t allow him enough time to train for Canelo’s much distinctive style of fighting. The IBF will make their decision on the Golovkin-Derevyanchenko case next week. At that time the IBF will either say that Golovkin must fight Derevyanchenko in August to avoid being stripped or they could let him put off the fight until after the rematch with Canelo. That’s what Loeffler is hoping will happen.

If Golovkin wants to show that he’s about the sport, he’ll put off the Canelo Alvarez rematch until May of 2019 and focus on getting his IBF mandatory out of the way against Derevyanchenko. Golovkin already has Jermall Charlo waiting for his title shot as his WBC mandatory and Daniel Jacobs waiting for a rematch as GGG’s WBA mandatory. There are three talented contenders waiting for their mandatory title shots against Golovkin. Instead of facing them, Golovkin is looking to put them off so he can fight Canelo again, which is fine, but he probably should vacate all his titles and focus on just money fights if that’s what his focus is.

There are some boxing fans that say Golovkin’s career will survive without the IBF belt, as it doesn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things if he has three belts or just two. Golovkin is going to continue to be recognized as the best fighter in the 160lb. weight class whether he possesses the IBF title or not. The fans are more interested in seeing Golovkin involved in the more appealing fights against Canelo, Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo. Derevyanchenko is not an appealing fight to the fans. It’s more of a Vanes Martirosyan type of fight. That’s not a knock on Derevyanchenko. It’s just how it is. He’s not popular, because he hasn’t been fighting any of the other big names in the division and he hasn’t had enough of his fights televised on television in the U.S for him to build a fan base. If the Canelo fight doesn’t happen, Golovkin will be fine. The only reason it wouldn’t is if Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions choose to offer Golovkin a small percentage split of the revenue or if they insist the rematch take place in Las Vegas. I’m not sure that Golovkin is going to want to risk getting similar odd scoring by the judges as in the first fight that took place in Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. If Golovkin loses his IBF title, he’ll probably be in a bad mood when he faces Canelo in September. That’s a good thing, right? Maybe we’ll see more aggression from Golovkin in the rematch with Canelo, because last time it was lacking from GGG. He fought like he was afraid of Canelo and that’s why it was such a difficult match. Golovkin fought like he was afraid, and boxed the younger, weaker Canelo and fought his game.

For Golovkin, he should never change his game for any fighter because his basic DNA is that of a slugger. When he tinkers with that and tries to box his opponents, he struggles. The reason for that is the judges put more emphasis on harder landing punches than they do in fighters that land nothing but jabs like Golovkin was doing against Canelo and Jacobs in his fights against them in 2017. Jabbing is nice when you’ve got someone like Floyd Mayweather Jr. doing it, because he shuts down the offense of his opponents completely. Golovkin doesn’t do this. His opponents are still able to land three or four hard punches per round, and the judges focus in on that and ignore the 30 to 40 jabs Golovkin lands in each round. So maybe if Golovkin gets angry at being stripped of his IBF title, he’ll come out fighting for keeps against Canelo and will be trying to KO him. That’s what the boxing fans want to see because it’ll bring out the best in both fighters. Canelo has been fighting sluggers his entire career, and he does well against them, but he’s never fought anyone like Golovkin when he’s in the knockout mode like he was against Vanes Martirosyan.

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