Banks on Canelo-Golovkin: Both Fight Extremely Different Than They Did The First Two Times

Johnathon Banks, the head trainer of WBA, IBF and IBO middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin has put together a carefully crafted game plan to defeat Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

The two boxers will meet for the third time on Saturday night, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is coming off the first loss of his career since 2013, when he lost a twelve-round decision to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in May.

Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) is moving up to the super middleweight limit to challenge Canelo for his undisputed championship.

Abel Sánchez trained Golovkin for his first two meetings with Canelo. The first, in 2017, ended in a controversial twelve-round split decision. And in 2018, Canelo won a twelve-round majority decision.

Banks didn’t bother to study the first two fights.

“I didn’t have to study very hard because I’ve seen them so many times… nobody really studies ‘GGG’ because they’ve seen it so many times over the years,” Banks told the Los Angeles Times. “You learn ways on how to fight him, so for me, I don’t have to watch the first two fights of him and see what we can do here or there.

“I think both fighters fight extremely different today than the first two times, they are really different. Canelo cemented himself in boxing from those two fights, as a mega puncher. He was not known as a puncher, nor as a fighter who moves up or down in division, but he is now a fighter who moves up and is now bigger, like a heavyweight.

“I think the media gives too much attention to [Golovkin’s] years. Some people feel that as soon as you reach a certain age, you have to retire. Some fighters can perform into old age and some can’t, Golovkin still looks great.”