By Brian Webber: Gennadiy Golovkin isn’t sure what he needs to change in his game to defeat Canelo Alvarez on Saturday because he feels what he did in his first two fights with the superstar should have resulted in him raising his hand.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) feels the human factor came into play in his previous fights against Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs), and hopes it doesn’t require him to knock out Alvarez. to get the victory.
At this level, it’s not easy to knock out a fighter like Canelo, who has rarely been hurt and has never gotten up.
Golovkin, 40, can obviously change elements of his game to improve his chances of beating Canelo because he made mistakes in both fights that played in the Mexican star’s favor.
For example, Golovkin’s decision to fight Canelo on the inside in both fights gave him a huge advantage, allowing Alvarez to land his power shots much more easily than he would have if GGG had been left out.
We saw in WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol’s recent win over Canelo that the best route to a win against him is to stay on the outside, jab and throw combinations.
Golovkin didn’t throw combinations, and he didn’t stay out against Canelo often enough to avoid getting hit.
Bivol used the move against Canelo to prevent him from landing his big shots. Golovkin moved only back and forth.
“This is not a question for me. I insisted on a trilogy the next day after the judges gave Canelo the win,” Gennadiy Golovkin told Morning Kombat when asked why it took him four years to fight Canelo Alvarez for the trilogy.
Canelo did not want to fight Golovkin again after beating him in 2018 as he was satisfied with the only win he had gotten. Just like in the first fight, Canelo wasn’t bothered by boxing fans who thought he had lost the fight.
For that, he left Golovkin stew for four years until he finally relented to give him a rematch. Whether Golovkin’s recent string of lackluster performances had anything to do with Canelo’s decision to fight him again is unknown.
“I just went over it. I knew what was going on, and it didn’t affect me,” Golovkin said when asked if he was bothered by the evaluation of his two fights with Canelo, as well as the Mexican star’s positive test for a banned PED.
“I realized that it was a business, part of the sport. I’m definitely a different fighter now because I’ve added variety to my skills; my style plus my age plays a role. This is a different weight category.
“JB [Johnathon Banks] he was able to bring what the Kronk Gym school has to offer, and he showed it to me. I am a different boxer than I used to be, and I am very happy about that.
“It is difficult for me to say what needs to be changed because it is not up to me. Of course, I know that I need to get in the ring and show the best of me, the best of boxing.
“At the same time, here we are talking about the human factor. We are talking about honesty and fairness with the judges. Sometimes you need to be way above your opponent to pull off a victory by scoring, like the last fight. [for Canelo against Dmitry Bivol] He showed.
“You saw the scores, and they didn’t reflect what we saw in the ring. It wasn’t as close as the scores. We are talking about human factors here,” Golovkin said.
