A lot has been made over the sparring sessions between Boxing’s No. 1 superhero and undefeated WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight world champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN (37-0, 33 KOs) and The Ring magazine and lineal middleweight champion CANELO ALVAREZ (49-1-1, 34 KOs) which took place many years ago. Golovkin, boxing’s longest-reigning world champion, has discounted the significance of those sessions.
“Those sparring sessions mean nothing,” Golovkin said. “We helped each other. Don’t read anything into it.”
But what about the recent sparring sessions? Oh yes!
On June 20, during the New York leg of the fighters’ UK/US media tour, they stopped at The Wall Street Journal for an editorial roundtable. At the conclusion of the interview, the world champions adjourned to The Journal’s upstairs studio to film them duking it out for five rounds — of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Supervised by Jason “Enola” Gay, The Journal’s Mr. Peabody Award-winning columnist, Golovkin and Alvarez proceeded to try and knock each other’s block off. Well, Alvarez tried. Golovkin succeeded — four out of five times.
“If ever there was a harbinger of what will come on September 16, it was that morning at The Wall Street Journal,” said Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter and well-known Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots whistleblower. “After Gennady knocked Canelo’s block off for the third consecutive time everyone was getting uncomfortable in the studio. With all the excuses that were coming from their side you’d have thought the WBC had sanctioned this. Gennady finally let Canelo win the fourth bout before closing it out with a stone-cold knockout in the fifth and final fight. The version The Journal put out was edited to make it look even, but there are plenty of witnesses who know the truth.”
“We have the raw footage. It was taken by a member of Team Golovkin,” said Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s longtime head trainer. “I’ve studied that footage and it confirms what I have been saying for years. Canelo’s a slapper. He couldn’t handle Gennady’s pressure and power then and he won’t be able to on Saturday night. On Fight Night, you will hear his corner say the same thing they said at The Wall Street Journal on June 20. No Mas.”
Video Credit: The Wall Street Journal
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez & Gennady “GGG” Golovkin Stacked Pay-Per-View Card to be streamed live
RingTV.com and Flipps Media today jointly announced the full “Supremacy” fight week streamed activities, headlined by this Saturday night’s (Sept. 16) super-fight between two-division, current The Ring magazine and lineal world middleweight titlist Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) and reigning IBF/WBA/WBC Middleweight World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), in the 12-round main event on Mexican Independence Day.
“Canelo vs. Golovkin”, presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions, will air live on www.ringtv.com Pay Per View ($79.99) in the United States and Canada, starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, from an already sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The PPV broadcast will be available to watch in HD, in both English and Spanish.
RingTV.com will be the online programming apparatus for purchasing and viewing the “Supremacy” PPV with Flipps Media providing technology to drive “Supremacy” programming.
The non-PPV undercard and other fight-week programming, including the “Supremacy” final press conference and official weigh-in, will be streamed live globally, FREE on the FITE TV app, available for iOS and Android devises, as well as on www.FITE.tv (see schedule below).
Tattoo Live and Ring TV Live feature live interviews about the latest from Canelo vs. Golovkin Fight Week from Las Vegas.
FITE TV “SUPREMACY” FIGHT-WEEK LINE-UP
TUESDAY, SEPT. 12
3:00-4:45 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Grand Arrivals
9:00-9:30 p.m. ET – Ring TV Live
10:00-10:30 p.m. ET – Tattoo Live
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13
3:00-4:15 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Final Press Conference
6:00-7:30 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Undercard Media Workouts
9:00-9:30 p.m. ET – Ring TV Live
10:00-10:30 p.m. ET – Tattoo Live
THURSDAY, SEPT. 14
2:00-3:00 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Undercard Press Conference
6:00-6:30 p.m. ET – Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN Weigh In
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET – Live Between The Ropes
FRIDAY, SEPT. 15
3:30-4:30 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Official Weigh In
SATURDAY, SEPT. 16
6:00-8:00 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Undercard
8:00-12:00 p.m. ET – Canelo vs. Golovkin Live Pay-Per-View Event
The mythical pound-for-pound title is also at stake in the “Supremacy” main event as the Alvarez vs. Golovkin winner — both fighters are rated among the top 5 in virtually all polls used to rank fighters regardless of weight classes – will become the undisputed world middleweight champion and arguably the world’s best of the best.
RingTV.com, powered by Flipps Media, will live stream four pay-per-view fights and three preliminary bouts. The eight fighters in the four pay-per-view fights have a combined 217.3.3 (147 KOs) record, including the 86-1-1 (67) Canelo-GGG record.
The English language stream will have Golden Boy Promotions blow-by-blow announcer Beto Duran, while veteran boxing reporter and Ringtv.com editor Doug Fischer will serve as color commentator. In Spanish, commentary will be supplied by Jorge Milhe and Ernesto Amador.
In the 10-round co-feature, unbeaten featherweights Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, Jr. (24-0, 13 KOs) and Jorge “Pilon” Lara (29-0-2, 21 KOs) battle in the World Boxing Council (WBC) Title Eliminator to position the winner for a world title shot against WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russel, Jr.
2012 U.S. Olympian Diaz, fighting out of South El Monte, California, is the reigning North American Boxing Federation (NABF) and North American Boxing Organization (NABO) featherweight champion. The slick southpaw is rated among the top 10 by all four major sanctioning bodies – WBO #1, WBC #2, IBF #4 and WBA #9 – as well as No. 7 by The Ring magazine. His Mexican opponent, Lara, is ranked No. 5 and 6, respectively, by the WBC and WBA, in addition to No. 9 by The Ring.
A pair of undefeated super middleweights, former IBF bantamweight world champion Randy “El Matador” Caballero (24-0, 14 KOs) and Diego “The Golden Kid” De La Hoya (19-0, 9 KOs), will square off in the 10-round NABF super bantamweight title fight.
California-born Caballero, ranked No. 6 by the WBC, will defend his NABF crown against De La Hoya, the WBC Youth World Champion De La Hoya, and cousin of the event’s promoter, Hall-of-Famer Oscar De La Hoya. The young Mexican with the “golden” surname, De La Hoya, is also rated among the among the top 10 by all four major sanctioning organizations – WBC #4, IBF#6, WBO #7 and WBA #9 – in addition to being ranked No. 9 by The Ring.
In the opening PPV fight, undefeated Tennessee lightweight Ryan “Blue Chip” Martin (19-0, 11 KOs) defends his WBC Continental Americas title against a dangerous, upset-minded Mexican, Francisco “Paquito” Rojo (19-2, 12 KOs), in a scheduled 10-round fight. IBF #9 and WBO #14 Martin faces the stiffest test of his young professional career in WBC #8 Rojo, who earlier this year knocked out WBC No. 1 contender Dante Jordon in the fifth round.
Three undefeated prospects will be showcased in the three preliminary bouts that will be streamed live on Ringtv.com. Ukrainian welterweight Serhii “El Flaco” Bohachuk (4-0, 4 KOs) meets an opponent to soon be determined in a four-round bout, while Dallas super lightweight Vergil Ortiz (6-0, 6 KOs) meets Cesar Valenzuela (7-1, 2 KOs), of Phoenix, in a six-round match. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Marlen Ezparza (2-0), fighting out of Houston, faces Aracely Palacios (8-7, 1 KO), of Mexico, in the streaming event opener.
All fights and fighters are subject to change.