By: Sean Crose
“I was a little disappointed with the efforts. It looked like one guy wasn’t ready to fight and he was glad the other wasn’t either.” So said famed trainer Abel Sanchez of last Saturday night’s Canelo Golovkin battle. It was the first time the cornerback from Big Bear, California had not trained Golovkin for a Canelo fight. Suffice to say, Sanchez told Fight Hub that he wasn’t impressed by his former student’s performance in the rubber match. “I felt like Gennady’s first eight rounds were like hitting the gloves,” Sanchez said. “It was like two friends fighting with each other. Canelo was throwing punches with bad intentions and Gennady just wasn’t aggressive enough to try and win the fight.”
The truth is that Saturday night represented the first time that Canelo was able to dominate his arch-rival in the ring. Many, if not most, thought that the first fight between Canelo and Golovkin, which took place in 2017, should have been ruled in favor of Golovkin, even though the judges ruled it a draw. The second fight, in which the judges gave Canelo the go-ahead, was also very fine. Last weekend in Las Vegas, however, the once-feared Golovkin looked old. However, Sánchez indicated that pointing to Golovkin’s 40 years is partly a mockery of his former protégé’s performance.
“It seemed like he was happy to be there,” Sanchez told Fight Hub, “and not so much trying to win, but just trying to make sure he goes twelve rounds and survives twelve rounds and that’s not Gennady for me.” Admittedly, Golovkin earned his reputation as a stalking machine, one that might well wear down an opponent before taking them out with a brutal fist. “You try to win by being aggressive,” Sánchez said. “If you run out of gas, you run out of gas, but the other guy will run out of gas too.”
Still, Sanchez made it clear that Golovkin’s age couldn’t be completely ignored going into Saturday night. However, he too felt that Golovkin’s strategy in the ring was off the mark. “Yes and no,” he said of Golovkin’s age as a factor. “Not because, ever since we parted ways, in his mind he has tried to take on a different persona in the ring.” When Golovkin had Sanchez in his corner, the strategy was to win the fight one round at a time. “He wanted to win every round,” Sanchez said. “I wasn’t worried about fifth when he was fourth. I was worried about the room.
“Yes,” Sanchez said, “(age) played a part because he’s forty years old, but… there’s one thing I like to say in the gym: I want you to act so you have to react, not wait to react. ”Perhaps Sánchez’s strategy would not have worked on Saturday, although there is no doubt that he once helped Golovkin to the top of the sport.
