By Allan Fox: Canelo Alvarez says his goal for Saturday’s fight is to score a knockout of Gennadiy Golovkin, but if it doesn’t happen, he’ll be happy with the 12 rounds.
It’s going to be tough for Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) to get a knockout in this fight because to stop a fighter like Golovkin, he’s going to need to get his punches together.
Throwing single shots and resting for 20 seconds is not going to work for Canelo. In his last fight against Dmitry Bivol, Canelo threw very few punches and looked fatigued at the start of the fight on May 7.
Bivol was able to take advantage of Canelo’s low punch output and exhaustion by taking control of the fight after the first three rounds.
If Canelo isn’t able to knock out Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), he’s going to have to pace himself because he can’t afford to beat himself up against a fighter who punches as hard as GGG does.
“That is my goal for this fight. [to score a knockout], but I will keep my mind focused. If the knockout comes, that’s fine. If not, I’m going to fight 12 rounds,” Canelo Alvarez told the media about his fight against Gennadiy Golovkin.
“I have been focusing on not making those same mistakes, but I love boxing as much as I ever have. Of course, a little bit, but I feel great,” Canelo said when asked if he had to lose muscle going from 175 to 168 for this fight. “Where I feel best is at 168.
“He did a very good job. He is the same fighter. He is strong; he takes hits and hits hard. He is the same fighter,” Canelo said when asked about Golovkin’s less than impressive performance in his last fight against Ryota Murata in April.
“I think he took a lot of hits because Murata doesn’t hit that hard. So, ‘It’s alright, it’s alright’. That is what I think.
“Since 2018, before my fight with Golovkin, I stopped running because of my knees. For this camp, I went back to running three times a week. So I feel better. I don’t run into that fight with Golovkin too. Remember, I had surgery in April before the fight.
“Their [168] has always been good to me. I don’t know how it will [Golovkin] manage it. When I went from 154 to 160, I fought the best in the world at the time, which was him. So I had no problem doing it,” Canelo said.
“Golovkin won’t have too much trouble switching weights in this case,” Eddy Reynoso said.
“Power can make a difference when you feel the punches, but it’s not about eating more to gain weight. That’s not what you do. You handle it that way,” Canelo said.
“Of course, it’s more motivation. You have seen it in my training too,” Canelo said when asked if his loss to Dmitry Bivol had motivated him.
“The rivalry I have with Golovkin goes back years. You have to see Saturday before you know if something happens in the future. We’ll see,” Canelo said of whether there will be a fourth fight with Golovkin.
