Saul Canelo Alvarez says he would knockout Gennady Golovkin in a third fight. The Golden Boy Promotions star has no doubt in his mind that he’ll defeat Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) again if they face each other a third time.
Canelo (52-1-2, 35 Kos) is focused on going after his fourth division world title against WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on November 2. If he win that belt, he wants to go back to middleweight. Canelo isn’t saying that he’ll fight GGG, because he’s not a challenge to him.
“I am the one to beat, the one everyone wants to face. Ever since Golovkin fought me, what has he done? He didn’t do anything,” said Canelo to Azteca.
To answer Canelo’s question of what Golovkin has done since his controversial loss to him in 2018.
GGG has beaten these two fighters:
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Steve Rolls
Canelo feels he’s beaten the better opposition since he last fought GGG, but you can argue that they’ve fought similar opposition.
Here are Canelo’s two fights since his last match against GGG;
- Daniel Jacobs
- Rocky Fielding
Derevyanchenko lost to Jacobs by a 12 round split decision in October 2018, but a lot of boxing fans had Sergiy winning that fight. The fans believed Derevyanchenko was robbed. Fielding is about on the same level as Rolls. He’s a weak opponent.
“I’ve already spoken to my promoter. If they want me to fight him, all it represents to me is business,” said Canelo about a third fight with Golovkin. “If it doesn’t represent a challenge, I’m not going to do it. If they want the fight, give me the numbers and maybe. I want other kinds of challenges!”
Well, of course a third fight with Golovkin is a business level fight. Canelo is kidding himself if he’s trying to say that he’s picking guys for non-business related fights. If Canelo wanted to go up to 175 to show that he can beat the best in that weight class, then he wouldn’t be fighting Kovalev, because he’s not the best or even the third best in that division.
Kovalev is a business fight for Canelo, whether he wants to admit it or not. If Canelo was interested in moving up to 175 for sporting reasons, then he would take on Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol or Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Those three the best with very little to separate them.
“I’m facing a pure world champion and going up two weight divisions and his opponents come from losing,” said Canelo. He no longer poses any challenge. I’ve already beat him. I gave him 24 rounds and he couldn’t do it. What’s going to happen in the third fight? I’m going to beat him again. I’m even going to knock him out. It’s just business.”
A lot of boxing fans thought Golovkin beat Canelo in the first fight handily, but was robbed by the judges. In the second fight, Canelo ran out of gas in the second half, and Golovkin came on strong. The judges Canelo a win, but it was controversial.
Canelo says Golovkin’s opponents come from losing, but that’s not true. Derevyanchenko was coming off of a win over Jack Culcay when he fought GGG last Saturday. Steve Rolls (19-1, 10 KOs) was unbeaten when he fought GGG last June.
Canelo’s perception could change if he loses his next fight against Kovalev. If Canelo gets out-boxed by Kovalev, he’ll be coming back down to 160 and he’ll be viewed differently by boxing fans than he is now. If Kovalev knocks out Canelo, then it’s going to be really bad for him.