Boxing News: Canelo vs. Golovkin should simmer until 2017, says Robert Garcia
Robert Garcia is among the many who want to witness the most-awaited match-up between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and IBF, IBO and WBA middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin, but the world-class trainer believes it would be better for the fight to simmer until 2017.
Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) will both take on a separate voluntary title defence before their mandatory fight, which is expected to happen in September 2016. However, for Garcia, who trains the likes of Marcos Maidana and Brandon Rios, it would be better, in the business sense, if both Canelo and “GGG” take two or three more fights before meeting each other in the boxing ring.
"It would be nice to see it, but I think for Canelo the smart way to do it is to wait until 2017 to fight him,” Garcia told Boxing Scene. “He gets more experience and two or three more wins, more confidence.”
He also cited the megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, which still broke records despite the fact that it took more than five years before it finally materialised. However, it might be a different case for Golovkin, who has yet to prove his credibility as a pay-per-view (PPV) star after only posting 150,000 PPV buys in his fight against David Lemieux.
Meanwhile, Mayweather also thinks it would be better for Alvarez to delay his mandatory title defence against Golovkin to also make way for a bigger payday. The retired pound-for-pound king questioned Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, about rushing the Mexican champ to get into a tough fight against the Kazakh knockout artist.
“Why is the promoter rushing and trying to throw Canelo right back in there in another rough and tough fight?” Mayweather told Fight Hype. “If they really care about your health and your well-being, if they really care about you and your family, which they don’t, because I know; I’ve been in this sport forever, so I done seen how it works, but if they really care, me, as a promoter, I’d let that fight build.”
Alvarez is expected to return in the boxing ring at the Cinco de Mayo weekend, while Golovkin plans to fight in March or April. Both fighters have yet to determine their next opponent in the boxing ring, although names like Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders and Amir Khan have been thrown in the list of their possible foes.