By Steve Kim
So who does out-spoken Hall of Fame trainer, Freddie Roach, tab in this week's middleweight showdown between unified champion, Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs), who meet this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas?
"It's a great fight, can't wait to see it," said Roach, a few weeks ago during a media day for Miguel Cotto, who faced Yoshihiro Kamegai on August 26th.
"I picked 'Triple G' but most people that talk to me think the other way and 'Canelo's getting a lot of good press being a pure Mexican-style fighter with a lot of heart and a good punch and so forth."
Roach believes Golovkin has been facing the better level of opposition, which the veteran trainer feels has generated tougher outings in the ring and in turn caused a situation where the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC champion is possibly being underestimated by some.
"Triple G' didn't look great in his last fight but he beat a very good fighter (Daniel Jacobs), a very big fighter. But I think they might be underestimating him a little bit because of his last performance. He's a better fighter than that," Roach said.
Golovkin decisioned Jacobs on March 18th, which ended a streak of 23 consecutive knockouts. Alvarez in his last outing dominated a listless Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6th over twelve rounds, which may have created a bit of a mirage.
"Very true... his last couple of fights, Amir Khan, Chavez, he looks like he is getting better all the time but look at the quality of opponents - it's no as good as the other guy," opined Roach.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com