Golovkin was hurt against 'inferior' opponents, unlike Canelo – analyst
Veteran boxing analyst Atty. Ed Tolentino believes that unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin would be in for a rough evening against the undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this weekend, September 17, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Golovkin, 40, shared the ring twice with the Mexican superstar. The first bout ended in a draw while he lost the second via majority in 2017 and 2018 respectively. According to Tolentino, the hard-hitting Golovkin has started to show his age since that fateful night.
“Though Golovkin fought inferior opponents, he had a hard time and was hurt. That was the huge difference [between Canelo and GGG]. Alvarez had a hard time against Dmitry Bivol because he is good and big,” Tolentino told Sparring Sessions LIVE.
“Golovkin, on the other hand, was hurt with a body shot by Derevyanchenko. Against Murata, he took a lot of right hands, and then he just rallied in that fight. These guys were not expected to give him trouble. They were supposed to be tailor-made and yet he showed his age.”
Alvarez, meanwhile, went on to sweep the 168-pound division to become the undisputed super middleweight champion. In his last outing, Alvarez revisited 175 pounds where he lost to WBA world light heavyweight world champion Dmitry Bivol via unanimous decision.
Alvarez, 57-2-2 with 39 knockouts as a prizefighter, has never been knocked out before. Against Golovkin, Tolentino warned that the Mexican would be up against an old, yet still hard-hitting opponent.
“There is no question about his (Golovkin) power. In fact, it was his power that saved him against Murata,” Tolentino quipped.
—JMB, GMA News