Golovkin says he’s taking judges out of Canelo fight

By Kevin Chittenden - 03/14/2018 - Comments

Gennady Golovkin plans on not allowing the judges to score his May 5th fight with Saul Canelo Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With his latest ideas and strategies given to him by his coach Abel Sanchez, Golovkin says he’s to make sure the three judges assigned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission don’t have the final say so in his rematch with the Mexican star Canelo.

The last time Golovkin fought Canelo the judges had a big say so in the fight in scoring it differently than the boxing public saw the fight. The judges scored it

“Absolutely, that’s what I’m visualizing and that’s the best way to show the world, to show the public, to show everyone who the better fighter is to make it a short night and knock him out,” Canelo said to HBO about his goal of knocking Golovkin out on May 5th.

Canelo will have to change the way he fights for him to have a chance of knocking GGG out on May 5th. That means less time on the ropes resting and doing nothing, and more time throwing punches. Canelo has never been a guy that show the engine to push a fast pace. He can fight at a slow pace against over-matched opposition like Amir Khan, Liam Smith, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Alfredo Angulo, but not at a fast pace.

To knockout Golovkin, Canelo can’t fight like he always has. That won’t work against Triple G. Canelo fights to steal rounds with his short bursts of activity, and then he does nothing for 1 to 2 minutes. Canelo might win rounds if he has a set of favorable judges working the fight like he had in the first fight, but he’s not going to knock Golovkin out with that minimalist fighting style. You don’t knockout Golovkin by throwing a tiny handful of pot shots, and then using the remainder of the round resting along the ropes.

”He knows me, but I know him as well. I know what I have to do. I’m going to work hard at doing it. I’m very happy, because in my mind, as I said, my goal is to win and be very convincing, and put on even a better fight than the first one. The first one was big, but this one is going to be bigger. The fans know me. I give it up 100 percent. This is not going to be an exception, and I’m going to leave it all in the ring,” Canelo said.

Both fighters know each other well from their previous fight, and from the sparring they did 8 years ago. The question is which of the two will be able to improve from the first fight. Golovkin was seen as the winner of the first match. Canelo will have to throw more punches for him to win without controversy. Golovkin will need to do more than just stand and jab on the outside. He’ll need to throw body shots this time, and stop being so hesitant to attack Canelo.

Golovkin didn’t get the win because he boxed instead of slugging during the first half of the fight. Golovkin started slugging with Canelo in the second half of the contest and he dominated he action, but the judges weren’t giving him credit. That means Golovkin will need to attack much more this time. If the judges aren’t going to give GGG credit for out-boxing Canelo, then he must go back to his normal brawling style to have a chance of winning the fight.

“I feel great,” Golovkin said. “I feel right now like a star, because this is the biggest fight in boxing. Everybody is very excited. Everybody wants to watch the second fight. I’m a fighter. I know my job inside [the ring]. I’m not the judges. It’s different for me. My coach [Abel Sanchez] brings new ideas, new strategies, more power and more speed. I show you on May 5th. Of course, it’s better if I knock him down. This is first class boxing, and I believe we’re not giving big chance for judges this time. This is the biggest day for Mexican people and for boxing fans,” Golovkin said.

Golovkin will need to go after Canelo from the first round if he wants to knock him out. He’ll need to wear Canelo down with a fast pace that he can’t sustain. It would be smart for Golovkin to take the judges out of play in the second fight, because there’s a good chance they’ll score it for Canelo the second time around. With the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena favoring Canelo, it means the cheering from the boxing fans will be for him.

Golovkin can’t count on the judges shutting out the fan noise and scoring the fight accurately. Golovkin must take the judges out of play if he doesn’t want to find himself losing a controversial decision this time. It’s unlikely the judges will score it draw again, because it’ll make the fight look like it wasn’t on the level. That means we’re not going to see another 114-114 score like we saw from one of the judges last time out.