When fight fans assemble their dream matches of 2016, the battle for middleweight supremacy between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez tops every list.
Thirty-three-year old Golovkin, the knockout artist from LA by way of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, is undefeated at 34-0 (31 KOs) and holds the WBA Super World, IBF World, IBO World, and interim WBC World titles.
Canelo, 25, the red-haired wunderkind from Juanacatlán, Jalisco, Mexico, is 46-1 (32 KOs) and is the WBC World middleweight champion, having won the lineal title from Miguel Cotto in his last fight.
While everyone wants to see the fight, some are playing their cards closer to the vest than others.
John David Jackson, the trainer of WBA/IBF/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, wants to see the fight, but he thinks Golovkin has the edge going in.
“It’s gonna take one hell of a boxer to outbox Golovkin and be able to maneuver him around the ring and neutralize his power and beat him,” he told Jenna J of “On the Ropes” radio. “If Golovkin and Alvarez fight, I don’t think it will be a slugfest. I don’t think Alvarez will stand toe-to-toe with him. I think he will try to outbox him and maneuver him around the ring. That would be a very interesting fight, if it happens it would be great. I doubt that it will happen for a lot of reasons, and I’ll go and record and say it, right now Alvarez is the cash cow for Golden Boy, and why would they want to stop the cash cow from making cash for them? Right now the fight makes no sense for those reasons.”
There have been some stalling tactics, and perhaps rightfully so. Canelo is still young. He continues to develop as a fighter. His single loss was to Floyd Mayweather in 2013, which is no crime, since Mayweather beat everyone, and Canelo has stepped up his competition since then.
But is he ready for Triple G, who is practiced in the art of destruction?
Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, president of the WBA, believes he might be there.
“He was our champion [at junior middleweight],” says Mendoza. “I think he has improved a lot. In his last fight with Miguel Cotto, I really liked how he looked. Physically he’s showing a better form and he’s more patient. He is a good fighter. I think in the fight against Floyd Mayweather, he was lacking a little. He needed two or three more fights. But I think at his present stage, [having had those] two or three more fights, he can compete with any opponent.”
“Golovkin is a serious opponent. He hasn’t reached the levels of popularity like other fights, but he is great. He can box, move, punch, applies pressure in the ring and can intimidate anyone.”
“[If Canelo beats Golovkin], it would erase doubts about him after what happened with Mayweather.”
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
