In his Letter From America Tony Jeffries explains why you shouldn’t read too much into Gennady Golovkin’s last fight
FINALLY Canelo Alvarez vs Genndy Golovkin is finally here and in the and on every boxing fans’ lips now that Mayweather vs McGregor is finally over.
I believe this bout could easily turn into the fight of the year that it certainly looks like on paper. Both of these lads have everything – power, speed, defense, heart, and confidence, and the best thing is that neither of them is afraid to get hit.
Before GGG’s last fight against Daniel Jacobs he was the favorite to beat Canelo for most people, but then he appeared to struggle and was getting caught more than he’d ever been before. A lot of people were saying that his age and the number of fights he has had was catching up to him – 35 years old and 37 professional fights – but I think they are all wrong.
Jacobs’s style is horrible to fight against – a tall, awkward counter puncher with great reactions and reflexes. I think GGG under-estimated him which led to him getting hit a lot and It was also the first time he went the distance in a 12-round fight.
GGG has an exciting style, though. He wants to fight and he tried to make it exciting by putting the pressure on Jacobs and leading off which meant he got countered and didn’t look great but it made for an exciting fight, rather than having a chess match with him and making it boring.
The boxing community went a little crazy, especially on social media. I saw tweets after that fight saying stuff like “I never rated GGG” and “I’ve always said he was overrated”, which really made me laugh and shake my head.
Canelo’s style couldn’t be any further from that of Jacobs. He is a come-forward kind of fighter, similar to GGG, which is what makes the fight so entertaining.
Even though GGG has his amazing amateur background, I would say that Canelo has got more experience. He’s been in more 12-rounders and fought in bigger fights against bigger names. He has been absolutely flawless in recent fights and when I had Liam Smith on my podcast, he spoke all about the fight against Canelo – his power and his surprising size.
Canelo’s defense is better than the Kazakh’s, but I what I would say is that he doesn’t punch as hard.
This is the first fight in a very long time that I have gone back and forth so many times with who I think will win. I believe this fight is a real 50/50, but if I had a gun to my head and had to pick a winner then I’d have to back the bigger man who punches harder – GGG.
Also, GGG has trained in my Box ‘N Burn gym a few times and is a really nice guy which makes me like him more, but may the best man win!
We break the full fight down on my latest podcast CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
