Gassiev: Golovkin Should Target Saunders Instead of Rematch
IBF cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev would like to see his stablemate - IBF, WBC, IBO, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) - forget about a rematch with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs).
Gassiev and Golovkin are both trained by Abel Sanchez at The Summit Gym ib Big Bear, California.
He would rather see Golovkin take part in a full division unification with WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders (25-0, 12 KOs), who on Saturday retained his title with a twelve round decision win over Willie Monroe in London.
Golovkin and Canelo also fought on Saturday night, going to a controversial twelve round split draw at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While the contest was close and very entertaining, much of the post-fight focus has centered on a scorecard of 118-110 in favor of Canelo. Golovkin was the winner by a margin of 115-113 on one card, and there was a draw of 114-114 on the third card.
Gassiev believes the rematch would play out exactly the same as the first contest, with Golovkin looking for a brawl and Canelo creating distance in order to counter-punch.
"I liked the fight between Golovkin and Alvarez. I admit that I expected [Canelo] not to rest as much and to attack more often, but he only wanted to counter-punch. The pressure and initiative was behind Gennady, so I believe that he was the winner in this fight," Gassiev stated.
"Because of the announcement of the draw, it probably makes no sense to carry out a rematch - because neither of them is going to change [their tactics] for the second bout and we would probably see the repetition of the first fight. Golovkin will impose his will to create a [toe to toe] fight, and Alvarez will not engage him on those terms and instead will work with movement to create distance. In my opinion, as a fan of Golovkin, it's better for him to try to capture the remaining title from Billy Joe Saunders than to do the rematch."
