Is Canelo Too Much Of A Fighter At Heart To Not Face Golovkin?
By: Sean Crose
Okay, not to get overtly political here, but if a reality television star can win the White House (for better or for worse), then most certainly Canelo Alvarez can meet Gennady Golovkin in the ring in the not too distant future. Right?
Right??????????
Photo Credit: Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions
Truth be told, it wasn’t long ago that I seriously wondered if the red haired Mexican superstar would ever face the Kazakh terror in the ring for middleweight supremacy. This is an era of “I’m happy with what I have,” after all. Adonis Stevenson, for instance, certainly doesn’t seem interested in light heavyweight supremacy. Even worse, Billy Joe Saunders has yet to show any real interest in fighting anyone who might be a conceivable threat. Perhaps, I thought, Canelo would be happy to star in relatively small scale pay per view cards, count his money and eventually retire content in his lack of legacy and true stardom.
There was always something that bugged me about that scenario, however, something that never seemed quite right. Canelo, you see, has always struck me as a fighter. Not just an athlete. Not just a man with a popular fan base. A fighter. Someone who doesn’t walk away from a challenge. And indeed, I still feel that’s who he is.
And that’s why I feel Canelo-GGG will probably happen in 2017.
Yet there’s something else in play here – and that’s the potential of Floyd-Manny, Part Two. Were that fight to be made before Canelo were to sign to fight GGG, the Mexican star’s stock would drop even more than it has recently. And that’ something I seriously don’t think Canelo wants to have happen.
Let’s get something straight, however:
Canelo has never shown enormous interest in facing Golovkin. He fought for the middleweight title because he wanted to face then current champ Miguel Cotto, plain and simple. When Canelo embraced the middleweight championship, however, he also embraced the “GGG problem.” Had Canelo said a year ago, before the Cotto bout even went down, that he was really just interested in a dream fight wight Cotto, and that a showdown with Golovkin would certainly happen at one point in the future, he’d have saved himself some PR damage.
The man didn’t do that, though, and now he’s in the unfortunate position to have to fight an absolute ring assassin in order to save his dignity. It’s hard not to feel a sense of empathy for the guy. Still, he’s a professional fighter…and a popular, wealthy one at that.
He’s also someone I suspect will only avoid the likes of one Gennady Golovkin for just so long.