By Miguel Rivera
Abel Sanchez, trainer of IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), expects his man to overcome anything that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) brings to the table.
The fight is signed, sealed and delivered - and scheduled to take place on September 16th as part of Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Back in March at New York's Madison Square Garden, Golovkin went the full twelve round distance for the very first time in his career - when he won a close twelve round unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs.
Canelo went the distance this past Saturday night, when he dominated and battered Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over twelve rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Sanchez and Golovkin were at ringside watching very closely.
The two boxers actually had a chance to spar with each other in 2011, but Abel downplayed the sessions because the two boxers have changed a lot since then.
"The sparring is one thing, they wear big gloves, Canelo was young, I think 20 or 21 years old, GGG was already more mature and had more experience, but it was good. I think this type of fight will make boxing grow," Sanchez told ESPN Deportes.
"I think it will be a difficult fight for both of them. GGG is going to be very strong. Canelo is going to want to box but I feel that Golovkin will have too much for Canelo. And if he doesn't knock him out in the later rounds, then he will win by decision. What should be noted is that Golovkin will take it to him like a Mexican. Canelo has an established style, as we saw on Saturday. It will be a long fight.
"Just like Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, this is one of those fights that make people tune in to boxing, it's those kinds of fights that can lead to a rematch or a trilogy.... boxing needs a Morales-Barrera , Márquez-Pacquiao, Márquez-Vázquez."