By Miguel Rivera
Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez is giving Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs) a shot to beat Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs), but he's not very confident about Canelo's ability to stay on pace with the dangerous puncher - who is very active with his attacks, rounds after round.
There are ongoing discussions for Canelo to face Golovkin next September, as part of Mexican Independence Day weekend.
At the moment Canelo is still the WBO world champion at 154-pounds. For his next fight, he intends to move up in weight to the middleweight division.
Golovkin is looking to fight in February or March, possibly against WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs. And Canelo may fight in the first quarter of the year or wait until Cinco De Mayo weekend in May.
In a recent interview, Hall of Fame legend Roberto Duran picked Canelo not only to beat Golovkin, but he selected him to win the fight by knockout.
Marquez disagrees, stating that Canelo would make the biggest mistake of his life by standing in the pocket to trade punches with Golovkin, who holds the IBO/IBF/WBC/WBA world titles at 160-pounds.
He advises Canelo to stay away from exchanges and to simply focus on boxing and controlling the pace.
"In my point of view, as I've said in past programs, Canelo Alvarez does have a chance to possibly beat Gennady Golovkin - with counter-punches, with boxing, with his style, with his punch. In this situation, the big question is whether or not he's capable of withstanding the pace of the fight."
"But if he goes into this fight [with the mentality of] of trading punches with Triple G, then he is practically committing suicide. We have to see [Canelo's pace], his conditioning after the sixth, seventh round - to see if he stays on pace with Golovkin - the type of boxer who goes from less to more and that is a big plus for a fighter."
