By Edward Chaykovsky
According to WBO junior middleweight world champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs), Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) did everything possible to avoid a fight with WBA/IBO/IBF/WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs).
Canelo and Golovkin were in talks earlier this year, after the World Boxing Council ordered them to face each other in the fall. At the time Canelo held the WBC's middleweight title and Golovkin was the mandatory challenger.
The fight never came and their negotiations hit a wall when Canelo vacated the WBC title and dropped back to the junior middleweight division. The sanctioning body then named Golovkin as their full champion.
Canelo is back this coming Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Texas, where he will challenge Smith for his belt. Golovkin was in action last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, where he stopped IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in five rounds.
There is a verbal agreement between both camps, to stage a Golovkin vs. Canelo fight in September of 2017.
"I definitely think Canelo ducked a fight with Golovkin," Smith told scribe Nick Parkinson "Rightly so, because Canelo isn't big enough. He went the totally wrong way about it, calling for the fight against Golovkin and then giving up the belt.
"He told the fans he wouldn't give up titles. He's just not big enough to fight him. He will be under pressure in this fight to put on a performance and that's because he has lost the respect of his people for giving up the title.
"He's ducked Golovkin massively. There's massive pressure from the fans because he wants to keep them on board and he will want to make a statement after what has happened."