Golovkin batters Canelo until he can’t take it says Sanchez

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez sees an ugly potential outcome for Saul Canelo Alvarez when he faces GGG on September 16. Sanchez says he no longer sees Golovkin knocking out Canelo in the 8th round like he previously had predicted. Sanchez sees what could be a far worse conclusive for the red-headed Mexican star.

Sanchez thinks that the bigger and stronger Golovkin will pound Canelo for a long duration until he quits. Sanchez’s revised prediction doesn’t work out well for Canelo, because he gets a worse beating from GGG than Sanchez’s original prediction of 8 rounds.

Sanchez says Canelo isn’t a big puncher and he’s not very big either. That’s going to make the 26-year-old Canelo’s job a lot harder. He’s not fighting a shot fighter, or a guy that is going to be outweighed by 20 pounds. Golovkin should be close to the same weight as Canelo unless the Mexican fighter decides to rehydrate into the 180s in using the same strategy that Danny Jacobs did. I don’t think Canelo being heavier is going to help him against Golovkin, because he throws a lot of body shots that are impossible to take no matter how much weight you have on you.

“In the past, I said Golovkin would knock him out in 8 rounds,” said Sanchez to esnewsreporting.com. “I now see it as a long fight. If Golovkin does stop him, it’s going to be a great fight and beats up on him and the guy can’t take no more, because Golovkin is the bigger and stronger guy,” said Sanchez.

Canelo needs to fight a lot better against Triple G than he showed recently in his fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6. Canelo didn’t look like he had brought his punching power up with him from his 155 pound catch-weight division that he’s carved out. Canelo was hitting Chavez Jr. with his best shots, and he was taking them without any problems. It looked like Canelo lacked the power for the division.

Granted, the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight took place at a catch-weight of 164 ½ pounds instead of 160, but Canelo appeared to be a middleweight in size. His power did not look nearly as good as it needs to be for him to be able to crush the best middleweights. That means that for Canelo to win at the middleweight level, he’s going to need to use his boxing skills and hand speed more so than his power.

Sanchez has obviously revised his knockout percentage based on GGG’s performance against Jacobs last March. It was a different situation for Golovkin in that fight, because he really wasn’t trying to go all out in going for a knockout. It looked like Golovkin’s focus was to box Jacobs instead of slugging it out. If Golovkin had been looking for a knockout, he would have jumped on Jacobs in the 4th round when he knocked hi down and had him badly hurt.

“I think this is a career defining fight,” said Sanchez about Golovkin’s fight with Canelo. “I think Canelo will be the most skilled fighter we’ve faced to date. I don’t think he’s the biggest. I don’t think he’s the strongest puncher, but he’s probably the most skilled, because of what he’s done after the Mayweather fight. I think Floyd made him understand that it takes more than red hair and fast hands to be a great fighter. Floyd has the skills to make anyone look bad and he did that night. I think Canelo was a beneficiary of an education,” said Sanchez.

I don’t think Canelo has learned a lot from the Mayweather fight. If you look at Canelo’s fights prior to the Mayweather fight, he was doing the same thing that he was after the fight. The only difference is Canelo gained more weight and began fighting guys like James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo, Amir Khan and Liam Smith.

Canelo was steered around the dangerous guys at 154 and 160. For instance, when Canelo decided to fight for a middleweight title, he chose the smallish and old Miguel Cotto instead of Golovkin. When Canelo wanted to fight for a world title at 154, he was matched against fringe welterweight contender Matthew Hatton and then later Liam Smith instead of the talented 154 pound champions Jermell Charlo, Jermall Charlo and Erislandy Lara.

”I think Danny Jacobs is the second best middleweight in the world,” said Sanchez. ”The three judges that night had Golovkin winning. That’s all that’s important to me. We’ll see Triple G fight the best fight he can fight. Danny Jacobs was one fight. The Canelo fight is a different fight. Triple G is going to be the best he can be. Danny Jacobs is in the past, but he’s the second best middleweight,” said Sanchez.

There’s no question that Jacobs is the second best middleweight in the division right now. But closely on the heels of Jacobs is Jermall Charlo. I wouldn’ be surprised if Charlo takes the Noi.2 spot really soon. Canelo will need to prove himself by beating Golovkin, Charlo and Jacobs. If Canelo doesn’t face all of those fighters, then you won’t be able to say he’s the best in the division, especially if he gets beaten by GGG on September 16. It’s going to be interesting to see if Golden Boy Promotions will take chances with Canelo to see if he’s the best fighter in the 160 pound division.

“It depends on what happens with this fight,” said Sanchez about whether GGG will look to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders after Canelo fight. “If it’s a close fight and people want to see it again, then it’ll happen again,” said Sanchez.

It’s not likely that Canelo and Golovkin will be fighting each other in a rematch. Look at it this way. If Golovkin beats Canelo, then Golden Boy will surely steer their fighter away from GGG in order avoid a second consecutive. If Canelo beats Golovkin, Golden Boy will still move him because of how grueling the fight will be. The last thing Golden Boy needs is to have Canelo depleted from two hard fights against Golovkin.

Saunders’ time as the WBO champion could be ending soon when he defends his WBO title against his mandatory challenger Avtandil Khurtsidze. If the Canelo-Golovkin is going to fight for the WBO title, it’s likely going to be against Khurtsidze. It doesn’t matter. Saunders and Khurtsidze are both pretty even in talent.