Gennady Golovkin did his part in taking a big step closer to the planned third fight between he and bitter rival Canelo Alvarez; this by defeating and stopping a game Ryota Murata on Saturday. Now, if Canelo can win his May 7 fight with Dmitry Bivol – in a fight that will see the Mexican superstar attempt to win a second light-heavyweight belt – GGG-Canelo III will be on for September.
But here’s the bad news for Triple-G: not too many people seem to think he has a shot at beating Canelo this time. Though many fans, experts, fellow fighters strongly feel GGG won fights one and two with Canelo, fight-one especially, things are differing heading into the third fight. GGG is now 40 years of age, he will have to go up in weight for the third fight with Canelo, either to 168, or maybe even higher if Canelo demands the fight be fought at a catchweight, and, perhaps most crucially, Golovkin is both slower and seemingly easier to hit now.
GGG got the job done against an equally rusty Murata, yet it was far from easy, or impressive. Golovkin took some shots and it took some time for his own punches to make an impact on Murata (who is seriously tough, let’s get that straight). So has GGG got any chance against 31 year old Canelo, a man who is pretty much at his peak right now? Former champ turned analyst Tim Bradley doesn’t think so, as he made clear when breaking the third fight down for Fight Hype.
“He’s going to mop up Golovkin,” Bradley said. “I thought Golovkin looked terrible at the beginning [of the Murata fight] and then closed strong at the end, which is good. It showed that he has great conditioning. He’s still able to fight. He still has some power. Punch placement, and I saw some good lateral movement from him. But Canelo is on another level for Golovkin. [Moving up in weight] that’s going to slow [GGG] down. It’s a different animal [with Canelo]. Canelo has fought at that weight and 175. I see [Canelo] beating him and stopping him late.”
Bradley pointed out the fact that Murata went to Golovkin’s body effectively and was able to push GGG back as a result. Canelo, a wicked body puncher who will, as Bradley says, enjoy a weight advantage, seems to hold all the cards in the third fight. Golovkin we know has an iron chin, yet he did wince, at least a little, when Murata tagged him.
Will Canelo become the first man to stop Golovkin? It may seem unfair to many that the deciding fight of their trilogy will come at a time when Golovkin is at an advanced age and Canelo is at his peak or thereabouts (some critics say Canelo waited long enough before fighting GGG the first time, waiting until Golovkin was old enough, he thought, to be taken) – but the sport of boxing is seldom fair.
Gennady Golovkin seems to be heading into the toughest, most dangerous fight of his career. This against a man many people feel he is currently 2-0 over.