Canelo vs. GGG: Abel Sanchez Says “Not Likely This Year and It’s not our Fault.”

Canelo vs. GGG – Earlier this morning, June 21, Abel Sanchez, the noted trainer of Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin, communicated with a member of the TSS family. During the conversation, it was brought to Sanchez’s attention that the Stations Casinos chain in Las Vegas had opened Golovkin a 4/1 favorite (minus-400) over Canelo Alvarez, the former lineal middleweight champion who recently relinquished his belt rather than oppose Golovkin in a mandatory title defense.

“Sounds right,” said Abel Sanchez, referencing the odds, “but in May of 2017 (at the earliest), with September more likely.”

“That’s not fair to the boxing public,” Sanchez was told. “Not our fault,” he replied. Then he added this observation: “(Canelo Alvarez) has an alligator mouth with a pigeon *ss.”

As we remember, Alvarez called out GGG after knocking out Amir Khan at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7. After inviting Golovkin to stand from his ringside seat, Alvarez said through an interpreter “I fear no one in this sport. I’ll fight him right now.” In his post-fight remarks, Alvarez’s promoter Oscar de la Hoya said “Golovkin, make sure you answer your phone tomorrow morning. We will call you.”

Eleven days later, Alvarez surrendered his WBC belt. It would have been stripped from him anyway if he were to fight anyone other than GGG next, so he was merely being proactive.

Several months ago, Abel Sanchez wryly noted that just about every middleweight in the world was on record as saying that he wanted to fight GGG – they just didn’t want to fight him next. Alvarez’s backers obviously don’t want Canelo to fight GGG next either. Therefore, one or both will likely have an interim fight or fights before their big showdown finally comes to fruition.

“Great fights,” notes ESPN writer Wallace Matthews, “have a limited window in which to be made, and that window can slam shut for a lot of different reasons. For GGG and Canelo, that window is wide open now.”

It would be a shame if this match is stalled beyond the “sell point” as happened with the Mayweather-Pacquaio fight. Golovkin’s people are quite willing to take the short end of the purse. The ball is in Canelo’s corner.

Canelo vs. GGG

Comment on this article