Virgil Hunter, best known as the trainer of the recently retired light heavyweight king Andre Ward, believes Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) will have to be prepared to stand his ground, in every round, if he intends to get a clear victory over IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs). According to Hunter, if Canelo plans to secure a clear victory over Golovkin - he will need to fight in a different kind of style - or else the fight may once again end up as a draw or Golovkin will win. In the first bout, Canelo used a lot of movement and Golovkin was in hot pursuit in every round. Some felt Canelo used too much movement in the some of the rounds, giving the appearance that he was avoiding exchanges. For the second fight, Hunter says Canelo must be prepared to mix it up more often, in every round. "I’ll put it this way, if Canelo is going to win, he’s going to have to fight a different fight than what he fought before. I think if Canelo fights the same fight, they’re going to see it the same way. Not to say that he’s not being successful, but in order to really make it clear, he’s going to have to stand his ground in every round. If he’s able to do that, then he’s got a great chance of winning. If he can’t and it’s the same kind of fight, then people will tend to look at it the same way, unless he’s so devastating in his counter punching. I can’t see being any other way but the way the first fight was," Hunter told On The Ropes Boxing Radio. By the time the rematch comes around, Golovkin will be 36 years old. There are some critics who feel Canelo, who is nearly a decade younger, can improve - while the older Golovkin will likely stay the same. Hunter disagrees. He feels a boxer at any age can improve, make adjustments, and come back even better. People are always going to have their say so. If you wanted to be logical, that’s a logical way to think. That’s not a wrong way to think, but you can’t underestimate a fighter of Golovkin’s caliber. To say that Golovkin didn’t learn anything in that fight would be absurd. To say that he doesn’t have any room to improve is absurd," Hunter said. "They say Canelo is younger and has more room to improve, but I don’t see where age makes a difference in improvement. If that was the case, then young fighters would be running the game, we wouldn’t have Bernard Hopkins lasting until he was forty. There’s always room to grow regardless of your age, as long as you’re in the game, there’s always some things you can improve on. I still see it as a fifty-fifty fight, I’m sure both guys will make adjustments that they need to make and it will probably turn out to be a better fight."
If Canelo could stand his ground with Golovkin for 12 rounds he would of done, the 1st couple of rounds he did exactly that and won those rounds and the push for the last couple. Problem is nobody can stand their ground with him for a sustained period of time eventually they all start to back away and do less and less until they are either broken down or go on the run. You cant stand your ground with him and "Mexican Style" wont work either, you have to look after yourself or you are getting stopped. Only way to stand ground with Golovkin is to come in looking like a Light Heavyweight like Jacobs did.
Hunter seems bitter to me, I don't think he has ever got over Khan being rolled out in spectacular fashion.
Wrong. Canelo can take GGG punch. If Canelo Comes forward landing faster combination punches on ggg? He'll win I would've bet on it in the rematch. Canelo is quicker with better boxing skills.
Better counter punching skills yeah, overall boxing ability nah, far better fundamentals goes to GGG ! If he was quicker with better boxing skills he would of won !
And he would've won if he comes forward. He can counter punch even by going forward instead of going backwards all the time smh. Canelo clearly got better boxing ability. Ggg is 1 dimensional who knows 1 way.
Do you not realise why Canelo didn't come forward ??? Its crystal clear mush, he would play in to GGG's hands, to ggg's strengths and Canelo weakness for any long period of time. He tried it then went on his bike..
Yes, his only problem is his gas tank, Canelo is already a superb boxer, if he improves his engine he'll be impossible to beat
Canelo has fought with big punchers and he went forward before. He has a bigger body size then ggg am I right about the bigger body size? So if that's the case? Why not come forward since he's the quicker fighter with combination? Smh. Canelo strategy before the first fight was to move way too much to counter in which he was doing what Oscar try to do against Trinidad.
He tried to stand his ground but it didn't work and Canelo ended up on the back foot like every other fighter that's fought golovkin and Canelo saying golovkins power wasn't all that then why didn't he stand his ground and knock golovkin out but no he didn't instead he stayed away and got bullied if Putting golovkin on the backfoot and standing your ground is the way to beat him then why didn't the great Canelo do it
