Together but on separate bills, and on different days this week, stars Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez will make their ring returns. GGG, now aged 38 and sporting a record of 40-1-1(35), was last seen winning a hard-fought, close decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October. Canelo, now aged 30 and sporting a 53-1-2(36) ledger, was last seen stopping Sergey Kovalev, this in November of 2019.
This Friday, GGG will go for his record 21st middleweight title defence, when he will face the unbeaten Kamil Szeremta. The following night, Canelo will face Callum Smith for two belts at super-middleweight. It’s up to you who has the tougher fight of the two men. But on paper, both GGG and Canelo will win (both are big betting favorites). It could be that we get some good action right here at the end of the year, as GGG and Canelo have very live opposition, which is one way of putting it.
At almost 39, after so many hard fights and so many fights overall, amateur and pro, we don’t know how much Golovkin has left. He is not going in with a banger in Szeremata, who is 21-0 with just 5 KO’s, but how much has GGG got left in the tank, and how will the layoff affect him? Maybe, after the war with Derevyanchenko, the rest will have done Triple-G a whole lot of good. Canelo is also facing an unbeaten fighter, and a bigger puncher. Smith, huge for a 168 pounder, is 27-0(19) and he has the feel of being a world champion, one who wants to remain as one.
Canelo made history against Kovalev and now he is looking for nothing but meaningful fights. A win over Smith would see Canelo bag two more major belts. But then what? What next for GGG if he wins on Friday? Is it too late for that third fight between these two? Do you still want, even need to see it? I think we do. Fights one and two were great action bouts, and we all know the draw in fight-one was a bad decision. Canelo fought with more aggression in the return, but still didn’t do enough to get the win in the opinion of some (this writer included). Now, if they can agree on a weight to fight at (it seems quite unlikely Canelo will ever fight down at 160 pound again, but you never know for sure), GGG and Canelo might just give us a third and final battle next year.
Canelo has other options, at least he will have if he beats Smith, as there are plenty of big and interesting fights for him at 168. But for GGG, the biggest fight out there for him is that third clash with the Mexican superstar. And GGG deserves it, doesn’t he? So do we paying fans. Even if the third fight between these two should have happened before 2021, GGG Vs. Canelo III could still be one of the major highlights of next year.
Agree or disagree?