By Gilbert Manzano

Gennady Golovkin dropped a bombshell Wednesday when he announced that he was parting from longtime trainer Abel Sanchez.

Oscar De La Hoya believes Golovkin is using Sanchez as the scapegoat for his first career loss that came against De La Hoya’s fighter, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. 

“To me, it feels like (Golovkin is) looking for that excuse and not putting it on himself,” De La Hoya said in an interview with BoxingScene.com. “Rather than blame it on himself, he’s looking for that excuse. He just met a better fighter that night in Canelo.”

Alvarez defeated Golovkin by majority decision in a thrilling rematch last year in Las Vegas. The boxing public is split on who really won that night at T-Mobile Arena, but it was clear that Golovkin wasn’t his usual self. 

Alvarez’s rapid combinations had Golovkin moving backwards often, a rare sight from a fighter known for stalking his opponents.

De La Hoya wants Golovkin to accept that Alvarez was the better fighter, for at least one night, instead of making drastic changes to his camp.

“Triple G is starting to become a businessman,” De La Hoya said. “Before, all we heard about Triple G was he trains hard, he’s all about the fights, he’s all about the loyalty, he’s all about working really hard and taking care of business.

“Well now, he’s worried about how many dollars he has to pay his trainers. He has to worry about, well, I didn’t look good in my last fight, so I’m going to fire Abel Sanchez.”

Golovkin recently signed a six-fight, $100 million deal with streaming service DAZN, which also gave Alvarez a historic $365 million contract for 11 fights.

There’s talk of Golovkin, 37, and Alvarez, 28, meeting for a third time in September if they come out victorious in their upcoming bouts.   

Alvarez will face Daniel Jacobs in a middleweight unification bout on May 4 in Las Vegas, and Golovkin is scheduled to fight Steve Rolls on June 8 in New York.

Sanchez, who trained Golovkin for nine years, told reporters that Golovkin made him a take-it-or-leave-it, low-ball offer to continue training him.