Gennady "GGG" Golovkin will be rooting for Saul "Canelo" Alvarez this fall when he takes on WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. Provided Golovkin gets by his October test vs. David Lemieux, he will be hoping for a super fight his next time out, and his trainer Abel Sanchez thinks Cotto isn't up for the challenge.
"If Canelo wins, I would say it's a strong possibility that Canelo fights us for a lot of different reasons," Sanchez said. "I think Oscar [De La Hoya] wanting to make the best fights, but more than anything else I think that Canelo himself being a young gun and having that Mexican following, he's not going to shy away from a tough fight."
Cotto-Alvarez talks have hit a snag
Sanchez wasn't as optimistic about getting Cotto in the ring, whom Golovkin has been calling out since 2014.
"If Cotto wins against Canelo, I don't think Cotto wants anything to do with Golovkin. I think he's running from Golovkin but it doesn't matter, we're not after Cotto, we're after the WBC belt."
Hopkins predicts Golovkin vs. Lemieux will be an extended Hagler-Hearns
Cotto has drawn criticism of late for appearing to duck Golovkin. After taking out Sergio Martinez for the WBC crown in 2014, Cotto was expected to face Alvarez this spring in a voluntary defense before fighting his mandatory challenger, Golovkin. Instead, talks broke down and Cotto wound up fighting ex-champion Daniel Geale at a 157-pound catch weight.
Cotto won easily by TKO, and then managed to get the WBC on board with the Alvarez fight, leaving Golovkin in the cold. Also, the Cotto-Alvarez fight isn't even officially signed yet and De La Hoya revealed to the media that the hold up is in the particulars of a rematch clause.
First, Golovkin must beat Lemieux, a heavy underdog but a live puncher. Lemieux is the current IBF middleweight champion, and he knocked Hassan N'Dam down six times in the title fight. Lemieux is 34-2-0 with 31 KOs.
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