Tag Archives: Gennady Golovkin

Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin: Who will Reign Supreme?

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Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will face Kazakhstan’s Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin for the unified boxing middleweight titles on September 16th, 2017 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The superfight has been billed as ‘Supremacy’ as the winner will walk away with all but two of the major middleweight belts available. Golovkin is the current unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight champion, while Alvarez is both the Ring and lineal middleweight title holder.

After the big McGregor vs. Mayweather fight stole the show in August, all eyes will be on this bout come September.

Mexican Superstar

Alvarez is Mexico’s biggest boxing superstar and the flagship fighter of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. The 27-year old Guadalajara native sports an impressive record of 49-1-1 with 34 knockouts, with his only loss coming at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Alvarez is a two-division champion, having held the 154-pound title twice.

Alvarez used to be known as the catchweight king after having fought a series of bouts at a catchweight of 155 pounds. The weight was even dubbed as ‘canelo-weight’ in reference to the obvious. But after Alvarez fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at a catchweight of 165 pounds at this year’s Cinco de Mayo Weekend, he agreed to fight Golovkin at the middleweight limit of 160.

Kazakh Destroyer

Golovkin is the Kazakh destroyer also known as the god of war. Triple G is unbeaten in 37 bouts and has 33 knockouts. His 89.8% knockout rate is the highest in middleweight championship history. Golovkin knocked out an impressive 23 straight opponents from 2008-2017 to gain the reputation as one of the sport’s most feared punchers. He had been eyeing Alvarez for two years now and with Canelo finally doing away with the catchweight, the true super fight is finally happening.

Odds and Prediction

This one could go either way, really, and could be a tough spot to make money betting on boxing. Golovkin is currently the slight favorite at -170 and Canelo the underdog at +150.

Golovkin has never been knocked down either in the amateurs or in the pros. But while he has an iron chin, he is not hard to hit. Golovkin loves to bait his opponents by taking clean punches from his opponents in order to land his haymakers. No problem there, because as we said, his jaw is granite.

But against an excellent counter puncher like Canelo Alvarez who can work the body as well as the head, Golovkin’s 35-year old body could wear out. And even if it doesn’t, Alvarez will feast on him with a lot of scoring punches. Canelo also has better movement and defense to avoid Golovkin’s big shots.

This is going to be a real super fight, far better than Mayweather-Pacquiao. It will be Golovkin’s power versus Canelo’s finesse. Unless Golovkin shows better defense, Alvarez should score all night on him. GGG will find it hard to knock out a moving boxer like Canelo. Both will have their share of highlights in this bout but in the end, the better boxer should win.

We’re picking Canelo Alvarez to come out victorious via decision. It could be close, though.

Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs Odds and Prediction

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They’re calling it Middleweight Madness in the Mecca of Boxing.

It may not be as massive as the Canelo vs GGG match-up would’ve been but this is the first legitimate middleweight title fight in years. Not only that, it is the best middleweight matchup that could be made today.

Unification

In a year of title unifications, boxing’s unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin looks to add Daniel Jacob’s WBA (regular) title to his collection. If he wins, Golovkin doesn’t just become the WBA’s lone champion, he will also be two belts short of achieving his dream as an undisputed world champion. Only the WBO belt, now owned by Billie Joe Saunders and the Lineal title, held by Canelo Alvarez will then be not in the Kazakh’s hands.

Golovkin is the universally recognized middleweight champion and lays claim to the WBC, IBF, WBA ( Super ) and IBO belts. Along the way, Triple G has bulldozed past his opposition, knocking out all but three of his 36 opponents in the professional boxing ring. At 91.7%, he holds the highest knockout rate in boxing’s middleweight history. On March 18th, he hopes to add one more name to that list.

Miracle Man

Daniel Jacobs’ monicker Miracle Man was conceived because he overcame a form of cancer to win a world title. Jacobs has won 12 fights in a row since losing to Dmitry Pirog in 2010 and he’s won all of them by knockout. Now he fights the division’s boogeyman in a title bout that is set to decide the best middleweight in the planet.

At 6-0 and with a 73-inch reach, Jacobs size has been an advantage over his past opponents and it will be so against Golovkin. He has good movement plus legit punching power so he won’t be like any of the opponents that Gennady Golovkin has dismantled. But the catch with Jacobs is that he has a weak chin which failed him against Pirog and which had him dropped against Sergio Mora recently.

Odds

Golovkin is heavily favored here at -800 while Jacobs is pegged at +450. The odds are a little bit over the top, considering Jacobs’ abilities. In between his bouts with Sergio Mora, Jacobs annihilated then unbeaten Peter Quillin in just one round in the Battle of New York in 2015. Twelve straight knockout wins isn’t a fluke and so is Daniel Jacobs. But then again, his opponent has racked up 23 straight KOs himself and has a streak of KOs dating back to 2008.

The thing with Golovkin is that his fight resume isn’t that good. But the reason is because he is the most avoided boxer in the planet. In his most recent bout, welterweight champion Kell Brook ‘exposed’ Golovkin before waving the white flag in Round 5. Brook showed that with speed and movement, Golovkin can be hit. Like Brook, Jacobs can frustrate Golovkin with his boxing. But Golovkin is a relentless predator who has a chin that has withstood over 300 amateur bouts and his entire professional career. It’s interesting if Jacobs can keep up with GGG’s pace and brawling style.

It’s true that Danny Jacobs is the best fighter that Gennady Golovkin will have ever faced. But the real question is whether he is good enough to beat Triple G. We think not. We’re picking Golovkin to win by another knockout

Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs Mandatory Bout Announced

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The WBA has ordered WBA (Super) Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to face WBA ( Regular ) middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs in what it called a mandatory bout:

Fresh off KO Wins

The WBA’s orders came after both champions successfully defended their world titles last week. Both Golovkin and Jacobs fought on the same weekend and both are fresh off KO wins over their respective challenger.

Jacobs successfully defended his title for the 4th consecutive time with a 7th round knockout of Sergio Mora last September 9th. Jacobs dropped Mora a total of five times before the bout was halted. Prior to that, Jacobs came off a stunning 1st round KO win over fellow New Yorker Peter Quillin in a high profile bout last December 2015.

Known as the Miracle Man for overcoming cancer, Jacobs won the vacant WBA (regular) middleweight title with a victory over Jarrod Fletcher in 2014. He’s since defended the belt against Mora ( twice ), Caleb Traux and Quillin. Jacobs is 32-1 with 29 KOs. His only defeat was a 5th round TKO to Dmitry Pirog in 2010 when he challenged for the WBO middleweight title.

GGG-Brook

Golovkin meanwhile is coming off a 5th round TKO victory over IBF Welterweight champion Kell Brook who agreed to move up two weight classes to challenge the man nobody wants to face.

The GGG-Brook bout was interesting because Brook gave a good account of himself while it lasted. Not only were the official scorecards close but GGG was landing cleanly on Golovkin throughout the contest. But after four seemingly competitive rounds, Golovkin turned on the heat in the fifth, forcing Brook’s corner to throw in the towel.

While Brook mightily failed in his quest, experts are saying he may have laid the foundation in beating the fearsome Golovkin who recorded his 23rd consecutive win by breaking Brook’s orbital bone last Saturday night. With the victory over Brook, Golovkin improved his immaculate record to 36-0 with 33 KOs.

Champ vs Champ

The WBA’s order to let its Super and Regular champions square off is a rare occurrence. In this case, the fight isn’t booked yet but both parties are given 30 days to negotiate the fight or else it goes to a purse bid. After the fight is agreed, it is bound to happen within 120 days.

As for the date, HBO has reserved November 26 for Golovkin but because Jacobs is managed by Al Haymon of the PBC, there could be some hitches. However, Haymon fighters have fought under HBO in the past, giving this champion vs champion bout a good chance of happening.