By Keith Idec

People rolled their eyes when Willie Monroe Jr. told them that Andre Ward would stop Sergey Kovalev in their rematch last month.

Ward indeed defeated Kovalev by eighth-round technical knockout June 17 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

The middleweight contender has another unpopular prediction for HBO Pay-Per-View’s next main event. Monroe thinks Canelo Alvarez will stop Gennady Golovkin when they square off September 16 in Las Vegas.

Monroe made the prediction to Box Nation, which interviewed him Monday following a press conference to officially announce his own middleweight title fight against England’s Billy Joe Saunders on September 16. The Rochester, New York, native is very familiar with Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), who stopped Monroe in the sixth round of their May 2015 fight in Inglewood, California, and broke down why he feels Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) is so suited to succeed against the Kazakh knockout artist that same night at T-Mobile Arena.

After telling a Box Nation announcer, “I’m gonna go with Canelo,” Monroe confirmed that he always believed Mexico’s Alvarez would stop Golovkin if they fought.

“It’s funny,” Monroe said. “Right after I fought Golovkin, 15 minutes after I got out of the ring, they said, ‘Who do you think will win out of Canelo and Golovkin?’ I said, ‘I think Canelo would win.’ Everybody said, ‘Aw, you’re being a sore loser.’ I said, ‘How could I be a sore loser? I just got out of the ring 15 minutes ago. I’m still getting my faculties together.’ ”

Despite losing to the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion, Monroe noticed flaws and tendencies in Golovkin’s game that make him certain Alvarez will win by knockout.

“When I fought Golovkin, in rounds three, four and five, where I got my best work done at, was on the inside,” Monroe explained. “And I found out that Golovkin is a mid-range fighter. If you’re too far away from him, he’s just gonna walk you down and try to cut off the ring. If you’re too close to him, he can’t get off. When you’re right in his wheelhouse, right in his power, that’s where he can be really dangerous. That’s where he is dangerous at.

“And with Canelo, I think the only style that beats Canelo is legs. You have to have legs. Canelo has great upper-body movement, awesome inside work, very good counter-puncher, but his feet aren’t fast. So the things that give Canelo problems are fighters with good feet. Nothing else really gives Canelo problems. And when I say good feet, I’m not just talking about cutting off the ring like Golovkin does, because Canelo’s not gonna be moving. Canelo wants you to come to him, so he can counter. And Canelo’s faster than Golovkin. So personally, I think Canelo stops him in nine or 10.”

The 30-year-old Monroe (21-2, 6 KOs) will meet Manchester’s Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) in a 12-round fight for Saunders’ WBO middleweight title September 16 at Copper Box Arena in London.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.