When the latest victim of Gennady Golovkin's knockout punching was asked what Canelo Alvarez should do if his rematch with Triple G still takes place in September he gave a one-word answer
'Run.' Canelo seems to be taking the advice of Vanes Martirosyan, who was flattened by Golovkin inside two rounds earlier this month
Mexico's falling idol, who Martirosyan replaced when Canelo was suspended for doping offences, seems to be looking for a way out of facing Golovkin
Who could blame him, if he was simply wary of re-entering the ring with the Kazakh world middleweight champion? After all, Martirosyan goes on to describe Golovkin as: 'The hardest pound-for-pound puncher in the world
' But Alvarez's Golden Boy promoters are pushing the envelope too far when they claim: 'Triple G is afraid of facing Canelo again and doesn't want the fight
' Their attempted justification for this is that Golovkin is now demanding a higher percentage of the mega-millions event
And the answer to that is: 'Why not?' It was Canelo who was the culprit when the May 5 date in Las Vegas was cancelled because he was found to have failed two tests for the banned substance clenbuterol
It was Canelo who had already kept the older Golovkin idle for a full year before agreeing to honour the rematch clause
It was Canelo who it appeared had to be dragged into a drugs testing programme, despite having blamed the adverse findings on contaminated meat in his home country
Shouldn't Triple G be compensated for earnings lost through no fault of his own? However reluctant Alvarez may be to yield a few percentage points above the initial rematch contract, the second fight is crucial to the restoring of his reputation and legacy
Even in his homeland, where he was rightly revered as a successor to the Mexican macho warrior legend, his stock is sinking
It began with the boos which echoed around the T-Mobile Arena when he was gifted a draw against Golovkin
Like boxing fans around the world, his own countrymen and women mostly believed Triple G had won by the length of the Vegas Strip
No one outside Canelo's immediate circle and most ardent fans will believe that Triple G is ducking the rematch
A Mexican Independence Day fight against anyone else will not cut the chilli pepper
Of the alternative opponents being touted even as Golovkin's team try to keep negotiations alive only our own Billy Joe Saunders, holder of the one middleweight belt not worn by Triple G, would be credible
If Golden Boy go for one of their own in-house boxers it will do nothing to improve the Alvarez image
If that choice is Spike O'Sullivan, who has been soundly beaten already by both Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr, it will threaten to make a laughing stoke of their star attraction
Having spent much of the first fight last year running backwards from Golovkin, Canelo cannot afford to swerve or duck now
For his own good, whatever his handlers says, he must insist on standing his ground
No comments:
Post a Comment