Former five division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not only picking Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) to defeat Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) - he is picking him to do so inside the distance.
Canelo will challenge Golovkin for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight titles on September 16th, on HBO Pay-Per-View. No venue has been finalized at the moment.
Mayweather dominated Canelo over twelve rounds back in September of 2013. But even Mayweather admits that Canelo has improved and gained more experience since their meeting. Canelo also claimed that he felt a bit drained from the contracted catch-weight of 152-pounds.
Mayweather sees no way that Golovkin will come out on top in the contest.
“Do I think Triple G can beat Canelo? Absolutely not,” said Mayweather to Give Me Sport. ”I think there’s a few guys that can beat Triple G, and Canelo is on the top of the list. I believe that he’ll beat him. I really believe Triple G has good punching power as a fighter. He’s got good punching power, but he’s flat-footed. He makes a lot of mistakes, but boxing is different now."
Mayweather praises Canelo as being one of the best fighters in the entire sport. He expects Canelo to end Golovkin before the full distance.
“I don’t think it’ll go the distance. Canelo Alvarez is one of the best fighters in boxing right now. I commend him. I take my hat off to him,” said Mayweather.
Canelo was in action earlier this month, when he moved up to a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds to dominate Mexican rival Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over twelve rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Golovkin saw action in March, at New York's Madison Square Garden, when he won a close twelve round unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs. It was the first time that Golovkin had gone the full twelve round distance and Jacobs became the first opponent to last the distance in 24 starts for Golovkin.