By Miguel Rivera
Veteran trainer Abel Sanchez is confident Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs) will be unable to last more than eight or nine rounds when he finally steps in the ring with Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs).
There are ongoing negotiations for Canelo and Golovkin to face each other next September during Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Both fighters were in action last month. Canelo dropped back to junior middleweight and knocked out Liam Smith to capture the WBO championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Golovkin traveled to the UK and retained his WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight belts by stopping IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in five rounds at the O2 Arena in London.
Canelo was scheduled to fight again on an HBO televised date of December 10th. He was forced to withdraw from the date after suffering a right hand injury in the win over Smith.
After Canelo withdrew, Golovkin took over that same HBO date - but a few days ago Golovkin also dropped out after being unsuccessful in reaching an agreement with WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs. The fight with Jacobs is now being targeted for February or March.
Canelo is scheduled to fight in May as part of Cinco De Mayo weekend, and then again in September. There is a slight possibility that he might fight in early 2017.
Sanchez, the head trainer of Golovkin, believes the fight with Canelo will be determined by skill - and not punching power. Golovkin has stopped his last 23 opponents.
"I really believe it`ll be a great fight, because Canelo is a very good fighter. The reason Canelo vacated the [WBC] title was because [the fight with Golovkin] was being mandated to him [by the World Boxing Council]," Sanchez said.
"But I think the growth for him [as a fighter] in the next year will be very beneficial for him come fight time [with Golovkin]. But... it won`t go twelve! I doubt if it`ll go eight or nine, because I have the better fighter. Not necessarily the bigger puncher, just the better fighter."
