By Miguel Rivera
Abel Sanchez, trainer of WBA/WBC/IBO/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs), says he - and GGG - were never expecting to face Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) in the fall. They were anticipating the likelihood of Canelo vacating his title.
Earlier in the year, Canelo was ordered by the World Boxing Council to defend his 160-pound title against Golovkin, who was the mandatory challenger.
The sanctioning body allowed each fighter to take an interim-bout with the understanding that they would face each other in the fall.
Following last month's knockout of Amir Khan at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Canelo invited Golovkin to the ring and then accepted his challenge by stating, live on HBO, that "Mexicans don't f*** around."
Shortly after that victory, Canelo announced his decision to vacate the WBC title and then the sanctioning body appointed Golovkin as their full champion. The two sides continued to negotiate, but then it was decided to push back the fight until September of 2017.
Canelo later announced that he was dropping back to 154-pounds to face Liam Smith for the WBO title on September 17. Golovkin is potentially facing British middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. on a date in September in the UK.
Will the fight actually happen in the fall of 2017? Sanchez rolls his eyes at the question.
"I think that's something that you need to ask [Golden Boy Promotions] and also something that you need to ask Canelo. All I wanted was for Triple G to become the only champion in the WBC and that happened. Honestly, [Canelo] stepping aside is what we expected," said Sanchez to ESPN Deportes.
