Liam Smith: Canelo Avoided Golovkin To Fight Me - Big Mistake!

By Miguel Rivera

WBO junior middleweight world champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs) agrees with some of the critics out there. He says the Mexican superstar moved down in weight to avoid a potential fight with WBC/WBA/IBO/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).

Golovkin was the mandatory challenger to Canelo (47-1-1, 33KOs), when the boxer held the WBC title. Canelo vacated the belt as the World Boxing Council was pushing both boxers to a purse bid date. Golovkin was named champion after Canelo gave up the belt.

After giving up the belt, Canelo announced that he was moving back to 154-pounds to challenge Smith. Canelo's last five fights had taken place at 155-pounds.

Even after he dropped the WBC belt, the team behind Canelo and Golovkin continued to negotiate. In the end a verbal deal was reached to have the two boxers face each other next September.

Canelo's fight with Smith takes place on September 17th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - and on HBO Pay-Per-View.

"I'm getting some backlash because the Canelo-GGG fight is not happening," Smith said to ESPN Deportes. "A lot of the American fans thought because of Canelo's last fight that he might get the GGG fight next because of the things he said at the post-fight press conference."

"Canelo built up a lot of people's hopes up and then, obviously, we know what happened. He gave up the title and a lot of people were unhappy with him and now he's fighting me and a lot of people don't know me, but they will after Sept. 17. Canelo avoided Golovkin to go back to 154 and I think he made the mistake of going back at 154 and choosing me."

""I'm not just coming here for a payday. I'm not an old guy at the end of my career looking for a payday. I've got a title to keep. I'm 27. I'm not 32 or 35 on my way out. I've got a style fans will like and I'm coming here to win, and you will know it by my performance. Kirkland and Khan are chinny fighters. I am not like that. Canelo is coming down from 155 to 154 and I am a solid 154-pounder, not a small 154. Size won't make a difference in this fight. He is in for a shock. The more people see the build-up to this fight and the more people do their homework, they'll see."