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Abel Sanchez was Gennadiy Golovkin’s head coach from 2010 to 2019, but Triple G opted to part ways with his coach shortly after signing a lucrative deal with DAZN.
Sánchez said at the time that the separation came down to money.
Sanchez guided Golovkin through the Kazakh KO artist’s rise to stardom and middleweight reign, which included Golovkin’s first two fights against Alvarez in 2017 (split draw) and 2018 (majority decision loss).
Golovkin, who is now trained by former cruiserweight and heavyweight contender Johnathon Banks, lost to Alvarez in the trilogy by unanimous decision.
Golovkin, 40, looked unspectacular for most of the match, starting slow before rallying late.
Naturally, Sánchez was an interested observer and weighed in on the proceedings he witnessed.
“I was disappointed in the efforts. It seemed like one guy wasn’t ready to fight and the other guy was happy,” Sanchez told Fight Hub TV. “It didn’t go the way I thought it would. I felt like Gennadiy’s first eight rounds were like hitting the gloves. It was like two friends fighting each other.
“Canelo was throwing punches with bad intentions and Gennadiy wasn’t aggressive enough to try and win the fight. It seemed like at the beginning anyway, but not towards the end.
“It seemed like he was happy to be there and not to try to win, but to get through 12 rounds and survive all 12 rounds. That’s not Gennadiy for me.
“If he was 30 years old or 20 years old, that’s fine, he could see it because he has a long career ahead of him. He is 40 years old. He is fighting at a weight where he does not jeopardize his belts. No one has ever hurt him in a fight.
“You try to win by being aggressive. If you run out of gas, you run out of gas, but the other guy will also run out of gas. He is in the same boat. Actually, I thought Canelo might have been gasping for breath towards the end of the fight.
“Imagine if Gennadiy had applied some pressure, then he really would have run out of gas.
“Since we parted ways, he has tried to have a different personality in the ring, a different style, a different way of approaching each round.
“When we were together, we tackled every round. It wasn’t a fight. It wasn’t 12 rounds, and it wasn’t what would happen at the end. I wanted to win every round and do my best to win every round.
“It seemed like he was reacting to what Canelo was doing, and that wasn’t the Gennadiy that I knew. If he doesn’t want to do it, it doesn’t matter what we say in the corner.
“Johnathon was trying to urge him on, but you can only do in a fight what you did in the gym. He’s not going to change his mind because he’s just in tune with what he wants to do.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and television reporter. He is also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, by email at manouk[dot]collect[at]gmail.com or at www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
