We could see the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin rematch finalized this week, according to the latest boxing news. Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez is hoping to wrap up a deal with Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler to get the rematch done for May 5.
One major hurdle that potentially was a sticking point was removed last Saturday with Golden Boy promoted fighter David Lemieux losing his fight against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. Before that fight, Lemieux had a chance to get the Canelo fight in May if he’d beaten Saunders and looked good. Lemieux was totally routed by Saunders in losing by a wide 12 round unanimous decision in Laval, Quebec, Canada.
”Our main goal is the rematch [with Golovkin], not thinking of Sounders,” said Golden Boy president Eric Gomez to the latimes.com. ”He’s traveling now, waiting for a reply,” said Gomez about Loeffler.
Canelo and Golovkin fought to a 12 round draw last September in a hotly contested fight. The judges were split in who they felt won the fight. One judge had Canelo winning by a 118-110 score, whereas another saw Golovkin edging it by a 115-113 score. The third judge scored the fight a draw at 114-114. In the rematch, Canelo and Golovkin will need to improve on the mistakes they made in the fight.
Golovkin will need to engage more and not just stay on the outside throwing jabs for 12 rounds. That was not a winning game plan for Golovkin. Canelo will have to fight harder for a full 3 minutes of every round. Canelo was mostly fighting hard in the first minute of the rounds, and then resting against the ropes to take a breather in the last 2 minutes. Canelo looked tired in most of the rounds after the first minute. If Canelo can improve his cardio, he could win a clear decision in the rematch with Golovkin.
Saunders didn’t help his case in his hope for getting a fight against Canelo or Golovkin. While Saunders did beat Lemieux by a one-sided 12 round decision, the negative style that he used to get the victory was off-putting to a lot of the boxing fans. Golden Boy Promotions likely won’t want to put their star Canelo in with a fighter that moves as much as Saunders.
It puts Canelo in a no win situation where he potentially look bad even if he beats Saunders. Golovkin would be in the same situation. Golovkin will need to make a decision whether he wants the WBO title badly enough to take the fight with the fleet of foot Saunders, and chase him around the ring for 12 rounds. The movement that Kell Brook and Danny Jacobs used against Golovkin is nothing compared to the movement that Saunders will be using.