Sanchez says Canelo is childish if he doesn’t shake hands after GGG rematch

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox

Trainer Abel Sanchez says he’ll be willing to try and shake hands with Saul Canelo Alvarez after his rematch with Gennady Golovkin, but if he refuses to shake, then that’s the child in him. Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) has a lot of hurt feelings towards GGG and Sanchez for some of the things they’ve said about him in the last few months following his two positive tests for the performance enhancing substance clenbuterol, and appears that he it’s under his skin ahead of the September 15 rematch on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) wants to thrash Canelo in the rematch because he’s not happy with the controversial 12 round draw that was scored by the Nevada judges last year in September for the first fight, and he’s equally upset about the two positive clenbuterol tests for the Mexican star last February. Canelo did test negative for performance enhancing drugs for the fight with GGG last year, but Golovkin wonders whether he was clean for that fight.

”I will make an effort. That’s what I’ll tell you,” Sanchez said. ”Children act like he’s acting now,” Sanchez said about Canelo. ”Of course, I will make an effort to try to do it, but if he doesn’t want it, that’s okay. That’s the child in him.”

It’s possible Canelo might choose to shake hands with Golovkin. Canelo has always been a good sport after his fights, and if he comes out victorious, it’s possible that he’ll be interested in shaking GGG’s hand if he’s not badly hurt like we saw with Amir Khan when he was knocked unconscious by Alvarez in 2016. However, if Golovkin wins the fight, it’s anyone’s guess if Canelo will choose to shake his hands. If Canelo feels that he deserved the victory, then he might not feel in such a good-natured mood to want to take the high road and show maturity and class by walking over and attempting to shake Abel Sanchez and Golovkin’s hands. It would look good in the eyes of Canelo’s loyal boxing fans to see him show that he’s a good sport by shaking GGG and Abel’s hands, but you can’t make him do it if he’s angry still harboring hurt feelings for things that were said or due to the outcome of the fight.

Golovkin is the favorite to win with the odds-makers due to him appearing to get the better of Canelo in the previous fight. Canelo will need to improve a great deal for him to upend Golovkin, 36, in the rematch to take his IBO, WBA and WBC middleweight titles. Right now, the bettors see Canelo’s efforts from the first fight as not being adequate enough to install him as the favorite. While the judges gave Canelo a 12 round draw against GGG, the fight looked to be a victory for Golovkin by 4 to 5 rounds. It wasn’t close. Golovkin ran away with the fight after Canelo gassed out in round 3. You can argue that Golovkin won 9 out of the last 10 rounds of the fight. Canelo appeared to win the 11th, but in the second half of the contest, but that’s it. Golovkin dominated rounds 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. Golovkin did it on effort, as the highly muscular Canelo was fighting on fumes after round 2.

”There is a reason, the reason would be because they’re trying to sweep it under the rug like nothing happened,” Sanchez said about Canelo and his team about his positive tests for clenbuterol. ”We’re not idiots. The fans are not idiots. Something happened. Yes, he was cleared by the Nevada commission, but something did happen.”

The only thing Canelo can do is to quiet guys like Sanchez and his boxing critics is to knockout Golovkin, and keep testing negative for PEDs in the future. As long as Canelo wins the rematch with Golovkin in an emphatic manner and tests negative for drugs, he’ll be able to make people forget about his positive tests last February. Canelo will not only need to beat Golovkin, he’s also going to need to show the boxing world that he can beat the other top middleweights in the division. That means instead of Golden Boy Promotions feeding Canelo the winner of the September 15th fight between David Lemieux and Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, they’ll need to match him against the likes of Jermall Charlo, Billy Joe Saunders, Daniel Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade and Sergiy Derevyanchenko. It won’t be any good if Canelo beats Golovkin and then immediately goes back to fighting easier opposition like Lemieux or O’Sullivan. Canelo needs to show the boxing fans that he can beat guys like Jermall Charlo, Saunders, Jacobs, Andrade and Derevyanchenko. The World Boxing Council is likely going to order Canelo to face Charlo, the interim WBC middleweight champion, immediately if he beats Golovkin on September 15. If Canelo chooses to vacate the WBC title and swerve the fight with Charlo, he’s going to look incredibly bad in the eyes of a lot of fans, in particular if he fights the O’Sullivan-Lemieux winner instead of taking that fight.

Sanchez wants Canelo to stand and fight this time with Golovkin, who received a lot of criticism from boxing fans for not throwing body shots. Sanchez notes that Canelo didn’t throw body shots either due to the swift movement that he was using all night long to keep from getting hit.

”The body attack was absent on both sides,” Sanchez said about Canelo and Golovkin. ”Canelo is a very good body puncher and did not throw any body punches. Why, because they’re at a distance. When Canelo is running away and not exchanging or not being at distance, it’s difficult to lunge and reach for somebody who’s not there.”

If Canelo has faith in himself and is willing to stand and fight Golovkin on the inside all night, he’ll have a good chance of winning the fight due to his superior inside game. Golovkin likes to say that he uses the ‘Mexican style’ when fighting, but the reality is he still fights predominantly on the outside using his Eastern European style that is taught to fighters from his part of the world. Golovkin can at times fight on the inside, but he doesn’t look comfortable at that distance. Canelo was clearly getting the better of Golovkin when the two of them were on the inside last September. What kept Canelo from staying in close were his issues with fatigue. Canelo kept getting tired and needing to move away from Golovkin to catch his breath and regroup. Canelo is working on his conditioning for the rematch with Triple G, and it’s possible that we could see improvement in that area from him.

 

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