By: Sean Crose
There’s little doubt that middleweights Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin appear – on paper at least – to be essentially evenly matched. Canelo has improved by leaps and bounds since losing to Floyd Mayweather four years ago this month. Furthermore, Brooklyn’s Daniel Jacobs proved last winter that, yes, Golovkin is indeed human. Jacobs, though, found a good way to avoid Golovkin’s vaunted power. At least he did for the most part. Golovkin was able to drop Jacobs in the bout, after all. What’s more, even though Jacobs managed to get back on his feet and perform at a high level, the judges still ultimately called the fight for GGG (Golovkin’s nickname).
The question now is, can Canelo keep away from or endure Golovkin’s thunderous shots while still doing enough to win their fight this Saturday night at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas. Canelo certainly seems to think so. The Mexican star has even gone so far as to suggest he can knock his man out if the situation arises. This, of course, isn’t out of the realm of possibility. For one need only ask James Kirkland or Amir Khan what it’s like to deal with Canelo’s power. Both of those men ended up with the lights turned out. They’re not the only ones to fall victim to Canelo’s punches either.
It’s Golovkin, however, who has the eighty nine percent knockout ratio on BoxRec. It’s Golovkin who has stopped such names as David Lemiuex, Curtis Stevens, Gabriel Rosado and Matthew Macklin, tough guys all. Lastly, it’s Golovkin who most anyone would give the edge to should Canelo decide to trade punches on Saturday night. What, then, will Canelo do in order to limit Golovkin’s power as much as possible? No doubt he has a plan that, on the surface of things, would seem to be a sound one. Will that plan prove to be enough, though?
Word around the sports world is that Canelo has bulked up significantly in the leadup to the Golovkin throwdown. Sure enough, the man has looked considerably bigger lately. Famed trainer Freddie Roach has even discussed the red haired slugger’s new frame on television. From appearances, at least, Canelo looks to employ strength and his own considerable power against GGG. Canelo’s experienced enough, however, to have a full bag of tricks at this point in his career. All the tricks in the world, however, won’t matter if Golovkin lands clean. Like Mike Tyson has said: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”