In boxing, we typically go years without “the biggest fight in the sport” coming to fruition. And once the big fight happens, we are typically on the exact same long, drawn-out schedule as before when the “next big one” takes its place.
For years, fans suffered in agony as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao continued to not fight. However, now that it has happened it seems like boxing’s biggest matchups are happening much quicker. After Mayweather-Pacquiao, the big matchup became Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto versus Mexican cash cow Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, which happened only six months after the last biggest fight in boxing.
Now, it would appear as though the “next big one” is likely to take place sometime in the fall of 2016, which feels almost rushed despite the fact that one of the fighters involved, Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin, has spent the last several years waiting for a brave soul, and marquee name, to step in the ring with him. That fighter is Canelo, who defeated Cotto and firmly stepped in as the most lucrative and meaningful fight for Golovkin in the middleweight division.
When I say the fight feels rushed I am only referring to the usual proceedings of big time fights and the manner in which they are made. Fights of this magnitude usually take forever to make because of the politics involved or because promotional entities turn into cooks that love to marinate the juicy affair.
However, we deserve Canelo-Golovkin, and Golovkin deserves Canelo—or any mainstream fighter, really. With Canelo-Golovkin in place as the biggest fight in boxing, both fighters are set to take one interim fight each — Golovkin in late March/April (HBO) and Canelo on May 7th (HBO PPV) — before stepping in the ring with each other.
Most assume that Golovkin beats anybody in the middleweight division, Canelo included. However, that notion is beginning to change and there are certain boxing experts ready to pick Canelo outright in that fight.
There was concern that Canelo might string Golvokin along for a few years and wait for his youth to catch up to Golovkin’s advanced in age prime. Golovkin turns 34 in April, Canelo is 25 years old for the next 7 months, and if Canelo were to wait out the fight for a few years it would possibly give him an advantage over Golovkin, assuming his skills depreciate with age, although that is no guarantee given Golovkin’s ability to remain fresh over the years.
Yet, Floyd Mayweather Sr., the father/trainer of recently retired Floyd Mayweather Jr., believes there is no reason for Canelo to wait and he favors the Mexican fighter right now.
In an interview with Thaboxingvoice’s Sean Zittel published on TBV’s YouTube channel, Mayweather Sr. made an astonishing claim about the legitimacy of Golovkin’s fighting ability, and not just compared to that of Canelo’s. Mayweather Sr., basing his opinion off of Golovkin’s performances in past fights, believes the fighter from Kazakhstan isn’t really all that talented in the first place.
When asked whether or not, in his opinion, Canelo could beat Golovkin right now, Mayweather Sr. responded by saying, “I think so. I’m not going to say that he can’t win now because he’s young because Golovkin is not really fast at all and I’ve seen him fight [Willie Monroe]. Triple G, he’s not no good fighter at all and I’m going to be honest with you, I could see [Canelo] pulling it off.”
There is no telling whether or not Mayweather Sr.’s comments are based off the attention “Triple G” has received lately, specifically the notoriety he’s gotten from members of the media. The admiration of skill has actually taken away from all of the “best ever” attention Floyd Jr. was getting this past year, a year in which he defeated his longtime rival Pacquiao, at which point he fought once more against Andre Berto before calling it a career.
Mayweather Jr. is considered unbeatable by most, but his impressive performances have left many to assume that he isn’t just unbeatable, but instead has no real competition anywhere in the 147lbs-154lbs weight classes – the two divisions Floyd competed in before calling it a career. However, there are voices out there, presumably the ones that wanted to see Mayweather Jr. lose just once before hanging up the gloves, that claim he should fight Golovkin in order to truly lay claim to being “TBE” or “The Best Ever.”
Mayweather Sr., in an effort to combat those critics, might just be lashing out at Golovkin’s reverence and reputation as one of the scariest and most avoided fighters on the planet. Although, these could just be Mayweather Sr.’s actual sentiments. Still, it is hard to believe that a man with as much knowledge and appreciation for the sport as Mayweather Sr. hasn’t been impressed with Golovkin, especially considering that everyone else in the know is more than impressed with him.
