Unified middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin believes the upset Canelo Alvarez suffered against Dmitry Bivol in May benefitted him in a way, as Golovkin opines that the loss brought his longtime rival back to reality.
Having lost to only Floyd Mayweather Jr in his entire professional career before facing Dmitry Bivol, Canelo emerged as a heavy favorite in his Light Heavyweight return on 7th May against the WBA 205-pound champion.
However, in one of the most biggest shockers of the year, Canelo was completely outboxed by his Russian adversary, who picked up a win via unanimous decision and also handed Canelo his first loss in nine years the second one in his career.
GGG says “jumping around weight categories” is not a good idea for Canelo Alvarez
Gennadiy Golovkin, the WBA (Super), IBF and IBO middleweight titleholder who is set to challenge his old nemesis this 17th September for the undisputed 168-pound championship, opines that Canelo has been brought back to reality by the loss against Bivol and will be improving himself.
“I’ve watched some highlights of some fights but I’m not following [Alvarez] and thinking about him. It’s not on my radar,” GGG said in an interview with BoxingScene.com, “I know a lot of people do not believe me but I did not watch the fight live or after. I did watch the highlights. There were no surprises for me. Bivol was Bivol. Canelo was Canelo. It was a good day for Bivol and it was not a good day for Alvarez.”
“You learn from losses. We’re at the level that a loss can only make you stronger,” the Kazakhstani went on, “I think it’s good for Canelo because that loss kind of brought him back to reality. He will make the right conclusions from that fight to be a better boxer.”
In the wake of the 7th May fight, many boxing fans and pundits said that jumping up to 205 was not a good idea for Canelo, especially when Bivol proved to be much tougher than anticipated, and Golovkin also insisted that “jumping around weight categories” is not a good idea.
“I would refrain from commenting whether it was a good decision or a bad one. There are experts who have already shared their opinion on that. For me, it didn’t really matter. He did what he wanted to do. Participating in golf tournaments – that’s a good idea. That’s something that he should do. Jumping around weight categories, I don’t know,” added Golovkin.
