Sanchez: Funny How GGG Goes 12 and Then Canelo Wants Him

Abel Sanchez, trainer of IBO, IBF, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), strongly believes that his boxer's last performance is the main reason they were able to land a fight with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs).

After two years of hype, Golovkin will defend his titles against Canelo on September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. HBO Pay-Per-View will carry the fight.

In his last contest, back in March, Golovkin went the twelve round distance for the first time in his career when he made a mandatory defense against Daniel Jacobs at New York's Madison Square Garden. 

The fight with Jacobs was close and competitive, with Golovkin winning on scores of 114-113, 115-112 and 115-112.

Prior to the defense with Jacobs, Golovkin was viewed as an unstoppable force - as he stopped his last 23 opponents inside the distance, and most of them were stopped quite easily.

Canelo was in action back in May, when he moved up to a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds to dominate his countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over twelve rounds - also at T-Mobile Arena.

After Canelo was victorious over Chavez, the fight with Golovkin was officially announced.

In the opinion of Sanchez, a September fight with Canelo would have never happened if Golovkin would have knocked Jacobs out. He says Canelo's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, was discussing a date in 2018 - until GGG went the full twelve and showed some flaws during the Jacobs bout.

“Do you think if he would have come in [and blown Jacobs out] that we would be having this fight on the [Sept. 16]? Yes, I absolutely believe that [Golovkin's last performance was the reason they agreed]. Oscar was talking about 2018. I don’t think this fight would be on if Gennady had just gone in there and blown Danny away," Sanchez told Yahoo Sports.

“It’s funny, isn’t it, that as soon as the fight was over with Jacobs, [Canelo and his team] all of a sudden started talking about making the fight with us. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”