Abel Sanchez, trainer of IBO, IBF, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), strongly believes that his boxer's last performance is the main reason they were able to land a fight with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs).
After two years of hype, Golovkin will defend his titles against Canelo on September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. HBO Pay-Per-View will carry the fight.
In his last contest, back in March, Golovkin went the twelve round distance for the first time in his career when he made a mandatory defense against Daniel Jacobs at New York's Madison Square Garden.
After Canelo was victorious over Chavez, the fight with Golovkin was officially announced.
In the opinion of Sanchez, a September fight with Canelo would have never happened if Golovkin would have knocked Jacobs out. He says Canelo's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, was discussing a date in 2018 - until GGG went the full twelve and showed some flaws during the Jacobs bout.
“Do you think if he would have come in [and blown Jacobs out] that we would be having this fight on the [Sept. 16]? Yes, I absolutely believe that [Golovkin's last performance was the reason they agreed]. Oscar was talking about 2018. I don’t think this fight would be on if Gennady had just gone in there and blown Danny away," Sanchez told Yahoo Sports.
“It’s funny, isn’t it, that as soon as the fight was over with Jacobs, [Canelo and his team] all of a sudden started talking about ** the fight with us. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
2023-10-19 01:07:30
