Supremacy Thoughts
For What It’s Worth

By William Trillo
Photos: Marlene Marquez

The time is finally here. It’s the biggest fight to come around the bend in many moons. No doubt it’s going to live up to the hype. With fighters the likes of GGG and Canelo it’s a given, this one will be spectacular. You can take that to the bank.

From arm chair boxing fan to seasoned journalists the common theme all along seems to center on GGG’s last two fights and the fact that maybe Golovkin has peaked and is now on the downside of his illustrious career. The speculation on that topic has gone so far as to suggest that this so called erosion is the only reason Canelo finally took the fight. Of course that would suggest that his promoter Golden Boy has bought into the Golovkin demise themselves.

Gosh, if only Golovkin had somewhat recently fought and easily beat a similar version of Canelo. You know, someone who comes forward and wants to engage. Some young gun with a sledgehammer punch who incapacitates his foes with one blow. Maybe if GGG had a virtuoso performance against a guy like that then people would be singing a different tune.

Oh wait a minute. He did, and in dominant and epic fashion. That fighter was Montreal’s David Lemieux. GGG systematically dismantled Lemieux with a powerful jab and thunderous bodywork that stopped the young fighter from Canada in the 8th round. The performance by Golovkin was easily one of his shining moments on his 20+ fights KO streak.

If you’re looking for comparisons I think you would be better suited to look at this fight instead of the Brook fight or the last outing by GGG against a very large Danny Jacobs.

When I asked K2 Promotions managing Director Tom Loeffler about this he said, “I don’t know why people don’t want to give more credit to Gennady for beating Lemieux. He was a world champion. David proved with his KO of Curtis Stevens and others that he has tremendous punching power. Yes Lemieux lost to Rubio and Alcine but sometimes fighters have bad nights and David admitted he didn’t train as seriously as he could have for those fights. But when Lemieux is on he is one of the most dangerous middleweights in the world. The way Gennady was able to so thoroughly dominate another champion was a huge statement for GGG. Now, Canelo has a similar size and style to Lemieux and I think Gennady will be able to dominate Canelo in similar fashion.”

When I put the same question to Abel Sanchez he quipped, “People only mention those Brook and Jacobs fights because they think there is a story there, it’s all about selling a story.”

And Golovkin was short on words just stating, “Every fight is different, very different. Right now it’s time for a new story.”

So yeah, if you are asking me how I see it, look to the Lemieux fight as a blueprint for what you will see tonight. I expect GGG to work behind a strong jab that will thoroughly frustrate Canelo. That will lead to the Mexican taking some desperate risks and it is then that Golovkin will lay some serious leather on Canelo who will be stopped inside of 10.

How bad will that beating be?

That remains to be seen.

But when I asked Loeffler if he thinks Canelo will reconsider asking for an immediate rematch if he suffers a crushing KO at the hands of GGG tonight. Loeffler smiled and answered, “It depends on how the victory goes. Abel thinks that Gennady is going to hit Canelo so hard they might not want a rematch. I know this fight has all the ingredients and will live up to the hype. The two styles fit perfect. Gennady is never in a boring fight. Canelo does counterpunch but he doesn’t run away. So this will be a tremendous fight and if it lives up to what we all expect I think this could be not just one fight, but two or three fights.”

I asked Loeffler if Abel was saying that tongue in cheek or does he really think Gennady is so powerful that no one from the other side will want to fight him again? “He really thinks Gennady has the ability to hurt Canelo,” said Loeffler, “ He doesn’t think Canelo can go 12 rounds with GGG.”

I must admit that I am thinking Abel may be making a very good point.

For what it’s worth.

We better stop,
Now, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down!

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4 Responses to “Supremacy Thoughts
For What It’s Worth”

  1. David McGarry says:

    Hmmm. There are plenty of doubts about the fight living up to expectations. It should have happened two years ago.

    Lemieux was damaged goods by the time Golovkin faced him, and Stevens was well and truly damaged goods by the time Lemieux shared a ring with him. That makes the analogy pointless.

    Lemieux seemed more worried about his hair being out of place than anything else for much of his fight with Golovkin. There was no sign he had trained particularly hard for that bout, and he didn’t seem to have a strategy in place to deal with GGG.

    I still think Golovkin will win a war of attrition, and I expect the Mexican to retreat into his shell soon after he realises just how hard his opponent can punch. There may be the occasional exchange, out of desperation, but I’m expecting a rather dull contest. I also think this will be Golovkin’s last big win. He looks like he is really struggling to make weight and he’s too small to succeed at super middleweight at his age.

    • William says:

      Geez you’re a sadsack sometimes McGarry . Tell you what, you flounder around with the barely a blip on the radar screen fights in the UK while the rest of the boxing world enjoys a truly great fight from Las Vegas. Your points about my points are pointless.

      Let’s let the fighters prove me right and you wrong. A common theme.

  2. David McGarry says:

    I hope you enjoyed the Las Vegas scoring. Summed up the people behind the event rather well, I thought.