Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez is one of those rare occasions in boxing when the two best guys in their divisions face off before they are past their primes.
Unlike the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao debacle that took over 5 years to make and one fighter remained unbeaten while he waited for the other guy to get knocked out cold, and get more wear and tear on him before facing him, Canelo and Golovkin are actually facing each other at the right time.
Even though Golovkin is older at 35, to Canelo’s 27 years of age, both guys share similar professional experience.
The one thing that stands out to me is the level of opposition that Canelo fought compared to Golovkin. You can say the 160 pound division wasn’t really stacked with name guys and GGG was relegated to fighting mandatory opponents, while being ducked by other belt holders, but the name value goes to Canelo having fought the likes of Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, and Floyd Mayweather to named a few.
I personally feel the fight at this juncture is 50-50, two years ago I would’ve favor Golovkin by a landslide, but after his close fight with Danny Jacobs my mind changed, it seems GGG has shown some slippage, either he had an off night due to over-training or he just can’t pull the trigger like he used to.
The younger Canelo is only getting better since he lost to Floyd Mayweather. In his fight with Mayweather, he was weight drained and barely threw any shots, but managed to some how get a Draw on one of the judges scorecards.
This shows you that Canelo has some clout of his own. Usually Mayweather will get wide decisions over all of his opponents he even got a majority decision over Marcos Maidana in their first fight, a fight many people felt Maidana won. Canelo did nothing against Floyd yet managed to get a Draw on one card.
Golovkin will need to go for the knockout if he wants to win because he will not win a decision in Las Vegas against Canelo who has taken over as the cash cow of boxing since Mayweather retired and Pacquiao is nearing his exit.
When Canelo fought slick Cuban Erislandy Lara, it seemed Lara was winning by sticking Canelo and moving. It was a very boring fight and Canelo didn’t do much in terms of cutting off the ring, he waited for Lara to come toward him so he can try and throw his whipping fast counters. The fight should have been a Draw at least but it went to Canelo by split decision.
YouTube video by Artorias Boxing
Golovkin needs to keep away from Canelo’s sneaking counters and use his reach to lay bombs on him and be smart.
He has to set that KO up and apply calculated pressure to win, and he needs to go after every opportunity he gets for the knockout.
If the fight is competitive with Golovkin landing and pushing Canelo back and it goes to the scorecards don’t be surprised if Canelo wins by split decision or majority decision.
I am an avid fan of boxing and video games. My first fight of memory was watching Prince Naseem Hamed destroy Kevin Kelly. I enjoy all aspects of the sport. My favorite current boxer is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. My favorite boxing match is Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 1. I love watching boxing on Pay-Per-View more than being there live because you can really enjoy and watch the action from the best view.