Tag Archives: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin

Posted on 09/02/2016

GGG: Canelo Is “Just Scared”
By: Sean Crose

According to the highly regarded Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, middleweight terror Gennady Golovkin had some choice words for one Saul “Canelo” Alvarez recently. While fans want the two men to meet ASAP, Golovkin made it clear that he doesn’t think Canelo wants to step into the ring with him anytime soon. Why? Because Golovkin feels the red headed star is simply afraid. “Everybody wants to watch this fight,” Golovkin is quoted as saying. “He’s just scared.” Canelo’s reputation has already taken a hit due to the fact that he gave up his WBC middleweight title before defending it against Golovkin. Such talk from the generally mild mannered “GGG” clearly isn’t going to help matters for the PR department of Golden Boy, Canelo’s promoter.

“He’s fighting small guys,” Golovkin went on to say. “No one with a true big punch.”

Liam Smith, Canelo’s next opponent may beg to differ, but Golovkin supporters love to bring up the fact that Canelo, who won the lineal middleweight crown from veteran star Miguel Cotto last year, is moving down to junior middleweight in order to face Smith in Dallas later this month. Indeed, it’s now clear that Golovkin no longer thinks highly of Canelo, who once had a reputation as a take on all comers fighter. While word has made the rounds that the Mexican star will face Golovkin next year, Golovkin is no longer buying it.

Pugmire makes it clear in his piece that Golovkin believes Canelo will probably wait a full thirty-six months before agreeing to the fight. Sure enough, talk of a bout next September doesn’t seem to be anything more than talk to the Kazakh knockout artist. “He’s saying,” Golovkin claimed, “September’s the best date. Maybe he’ll fight Margarito, maybe Pacquiao or blah, blah, blah before then.” Fans who have felt Golovkin needed to be more vocal in calling out Canelo can no longer claim GGG is taking it easy on his potential opponent.

“He’s not serious.” Golovkin said. “Everybody understands it. People understand that G’s ready and Canelo’s not.” The undefeated mutli-belt holder also stated that Canelo and the gang at Golden Boy would engage in some sleight of hand by offering GGG virtual peanuts for a match before stepping away to claim they tried their best to make the fight happen. “It’s a 50-50 fight,” Golovkin claimed in Pugmire’s article, “but that’s what he’s going to do. It’s a game to him.”

Harsh words indeed. Whether they goad team Canelo into fighting Golovkin sooner rather than later remains to be seen. Golovkin made an interesting point in Pugmire’s piece when he indicated that Canelo is Golden Boy’s feature attraction and that a beat down at his (GGGs) gloved hands would be bad for business. Still, Canelo appears to have a strong, though perhaps diminished, fan base. And that base could well decide if and when a bout with Golovkin occurs. Canelo has long argued he’s not at all afraid of Golovkin. Whether or not his fans, especially the paying ones, believe him may make all the difference.

As for Golovkin, he’s set to face IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook in a huge fight in Britain next month.

Posted on 07/20/2016

Has Canelo Gone Full Donald Trump?
By: John Freund

It’s the classic bully maneuver: Take your own insecurities, project them onto your opponent, then attack. For an example, we need look no further than the Master Bully himself, one Donald J. Trump.

During the Republican primary, Trump made waves by accusing Sen. John McCain of not being a war hero because he was captured in battle. Trump even went on to call McCain a ‘loser.’ This argument, aside from being outrageously insensitive, makes zero sense. Since when does a soldier lose ‘war hero’ status upon being captured? In my opinion, and I dare say in most other people’s, anyone who serves his or her country in war is a hero, regardless of whether they are captured, killed, or injured.

So why did Donald Trump say what he said?

One argument is that he’s crazy. I don’t buy it though. If Trump is crazy, then he’s crazy like a fox. Because in attacking McCain for being a ‘loser’ instead of a war hero, Trump is simply following the first lesson they teach in Bully Tactics 101: Project your insecurities onto your enemy, then attack.

Trump dodged the war. He used student deferments and later a medical deferment to avoid being drafted. And it’s painfully obvious from all his talk about ‘winning’ that the thing he fears most is losing. So Trump did what the Great Bully does, he projected his insecurities onto McCain, and went on the attack.

It’s a classic maneuver, actually. As subliminal as it is ruthless. And it’s one that gets repeated again and again.

Enter Canelo Alvarez.

Alvarez just accused Genady ‘GGG’ Golovkin of taking the easy road when facing opponents. Yup, the same Genady Golovkin that no one – including Canelo Alvarez – currently wants to fight.

“All of his opponents have been the easy road,” Alvarez told RingTV.com in a phone interview. “He has never fought someone who has really pushed him or taken him to the next level. All of his opponents have been easy opponents.”

Gee Canelo, I wonder why Triple-G’s opponents have been so easy. Could it be because YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE ARE DUCKING HIM???

This is the classic bully performance, and it couldn’t have gone better if Trump himself had given it. Canelo’s rep has taken a serious beating lately. Not only for ducking Golovkin, but also for challenging an overmatched Amir Khan and following that up with a soon-to-be-thrashing of Liam Smith. Not exactly taking the hard road, are we Canelo?

So what does the bully do in the end? He takes his own insecurities and projects them onto his enemy. Now it’s Golovkin who is ducking tough opponents. Now it’s Golovkin who is taking the ‘easy road.’

Canelo even took this tactic to its psychological extreme, not only lashing out at Golovkin for what Canelo himself is accused of, but also justifying it with some twisted form of logic that only he (and possibly Oscar De La Hoya) can dream up.

“The main difference is that Brook is going up two weight classes,” said Alvarez, of GGG’s soon-to-be next KO victim. “I only made Amir Khan go up one weight class. People say it was two, but it was only one, and this guy Brook is moving up two to fight GGG at 160.”

For those not in the know, boxers weigh-in before the fight at a certain weight limit. But with rehydration, some are able to gain serious pounds between the weigh-in and the fight itself. Amir Khan claims he weighed 161 pounds during his fight with Canelo, and stated that “Canelo must have been around 180lbs! He’s a big dude.”

Canelo, for his part, denies that he rehydrated up to 180. Whatever his actual weight, it is clear that Canelo was much bigger and stronger than Khan during their fight. So for Canelo to make the argument that GGG fighting a guy two weight classes below him is somehow different from Canelo fighting Amir Khan… well that is just absurd. Add to it the fact that Canelo is justifying his own claim that GGG is ducking strong opponents, and you have absurdity on top of absurdity.

Welcome to ‘John McCain is not a war hero.’ Welcome to the world of Donald Trump.

Posted on 03/17/2015

By: William Holmes

The following is the Boxing Insider notebook for the week of March 10th to March 17th, covering the comings and goings in the sport of boxing that you might have missed.

Floyd Mayweather’s Diet Valued at $1,000 a Plate

TMZ has reported that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has hired a private chef to cook up his meals for the Manny Pacquiao fight at a price for about $1,000 a plate. If Floyd were to eat four meals a day he’s look at a bill of around $184,000.

The woman he has hired is Chef Q who is based out of Las Vegas. More information can be found here.

Manny Pacquiao Donates P5.3M to United Nations World Food Program

Manny Pacquiao has donated P5.3 million ($120,000) to the United Nations World Food Program to fight hunger in the Philippines. The contribution will support the World Food Program’s school feeding program in Central Mindanao.

“The school feeding program ensures that school children in Central Mindanao have one less thing to worry about so they can instead focus on their studies. According to our monitoring data, school feeding programs help increase the retention rate of students in WFP-assisted schools by over 90 percent- a testament to how school feeding helps these children stay in school,” said WFP Philippines Representative and Country Director Praveen Agrawal.

More information can be found here.

Premier Boxing Champions Returns to Spike TV on Friday, April 24th in Chicago

The Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series will return to Spike TV on April 24th at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

The main event will be in the super middleweight division between Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1) and Badou Jack (18-1) and the co-main event will be between Daniel “The Miracle Man” Jacobs (28-1) and Caleb Truax (25-1-2) in the middleweight division.

The bout is co-promoted by Warriors Boxing and Mayweather Promotions and tickets will be available online at www.ticketmaster.com.

“I’m extremely excited to be fighting on Spike TV and I plan on being the guy everyone is talking about when the night is over,” said Dirrell.

“This is a great platform for me and I’m more motivated than ever to put on a show for the fans. Badou Jack is a tough opponent, but I’m going to make it a very bad night for him.”

“This is a great opportunity for me and I am not going to let it slip through my fingers,” said Jack. “I know Anthony Dirrell is a very skilled fighter but he’s about to feel a different kind of power when I hit him. I’m looking forward to becoming the super middleweight champion on April 24th.”

ESPN Friday Night Fights Returns to Mohegan Sun

ESPN Friday Night Fights returns to the Mohegan Sun on Friday, April 17th. The main event will be between highly touted prospect Sergey Derevyanchenko (4-0) and former world-title challenger Elvin Ayala (27-6-1) in the main event of the evening and the co-feature will be between Ryan Kielczweski (22-0) and Danny Aquino (16-2) in the featherweight division.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be headlining this card and appearing for the first time on the ESPN network and I want to thank my promoters DiBella Entertainment and Fight Promotions Inc. for this opportunity,” said Derevyanchenko.

“Ayala is a very tough and experienced opponent. He challenged Arthur Abraham for his title, going 12 hard rounds. He is coming off a very good win in his most recent fight and I know he will be coming to win in front of his hometown fans come April 17. I am looking to make a statement in this fight though. I am going to show the world that I am one of the best 160-pounders in all of boxing and I belong at the elite level of this division.”

“On April 17th, I will be victorious” said Ayala. “I am training like never before and I am ready to put on the performance of a lifetime. I have suffered losses in my career but never defeat. God knows this and I know this and now it is time for the world to know it, beginning with Sergey Derevyanchenko.”

Kell Brook vs. Jo Jo Dan to be Televised on Showtime

Showtime Sports has announced that they will broadcast the Sky Sports telecast of the IBF Welterweight World Championship between Kell Brook and the number one challenger Jo Jo Dan on Saturday, March 28th live on Showtime at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT. This bout will be held at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England.

The same evening will feature a WBC Featherweight Championship bout between Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8) and Gary Russell Jr. (25-1) in the main event of Showtime Championship Boxing as well as a bout between Jermell Charlo (25-0) and Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1) in a super welterweight bout.

“After everything that’s happened over the last six months, it feels incredible knowing I will be defending my World title in Sheffield,” said Brook. “I’m not looking past JoJo, I know he will bring the heat but I want to get this mandatory defence done and then target those mega-fights that are out there in the division. I know he feels he worked so hard to get into the mandatory position just like I did, but I will be working twice as hard to keep the belt that I earned. After May 2nd, there will only be two champions in the division—myself and Floyd or Manny. I want to unify this division in style. I’m coming for them all.”

Willie Monroe Jr. to get Title Shot Against Gennady Golovkin

Many people were hoping that Gennady Golovkin would be facing an elite level boxer such as Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez in his next bout, but fans will have to accept the fact that the winner of the 2014 Boxcino Middleweight tournament as Golovkin’s next opponent.

Willie Monroe Jr. will face Gennady Golovkin for his WBA/IBO and WBC Interim Middleweight Championship on May 16th at the Forum in Inglewood, California. This event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing.

“On May 16, I will shock the world,” said Monroe. “I think this is an awesome fight. We have two contrasting styles that will make for some spontaneous combustion. We will see which style comes out on top on May 16.”

Monroe went on to state, “I want to thank Banner Promotions for standing by me. I also want to thank “GGG” for accepting the fight. This is a risky fight for him because people have not given me credit for who I am,” continued Monroe. “I also want to thank Brian Kweder and John Campagna of ESPN for the platform of the Boxcino tournament. I know that it was those three fights that really springboarded me into this position.”

Adrien Broner Arrested on Drunk Driving Charge

The Sharonville, Ohio police arrested Adrien Broner in January of 2015 for a drunk driven charge after he refused a breath test when officers stopped his Merecedes.

He has pleaded not guilty and will ask for a jury trial.

More info can be found here.

Full March 20th Fight Card Set Featuring Alfonso Gomez

Golden Boy Promotions recently announced the full card for March 20th at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Former world title challenger Alfonso Gomez (24-6-2) will take on Japan’s Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-2-1) in a super welterweight bout.

This bout will be aired live on Fox Sports 1 and future hall of famer, Bernard Hopkins, will be in attendance to meet and greet with fans at the Special Events Center from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The undercard will feature Ronny Rios (23-1) taking on Sergio “El Frio” Frias (16-4-2) and former Irish national championship fighter Jamie Kavanagh (17-1-1) facing Miguel Zamudio (29-6-1).

More information can be found at www.goldenboypromotions.com.