Former two-weight world champion, Carl Frampton MBE, gave his thoughts on the boxing match that will go down in history – Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez vs Gennady Golovkin.
The pair will go head-to-head for the third (and certainly final) time in Las Vegas this weekend, starting from where they left off in 2018. Canelo won by majority decision that night, built on first draw last year.
Frampton, like many others in the sport, disagreed with the 2017 draw. In the category Sunday Lifehe explains why he considers this next scrap “the decider”.
“There have been some people who feel the moment has passed in this match, but I still think there is a lot of value that they have to face again.
Their first meeting in 2017 ended in an extremely controversial draw with many – myself included – believing that Golovkin was extremely tough, but the rematch was much closer to Opinions are divided and I think Canelo did enough on that occasion to get through it.
Officially it’s a draw and a win for Canelo, but I think that can really be seen as a win each and so the third fight is a bit of a decisive one between them. “
So, atonement for Golovkin? Although ‘The Jackal’ wants to see it happen, he doesn’t think it will.
“Golovkin is now 40 years old and doesn’t look like the boxer he used to be when he was at the peak of his power. Golovkin stopped Ryota Murata in a unified match last time, but he didn’t look great from the start and is having some problems. The only one that none of us can beat is Father Time, and this fight seems to be only a few years away before it’s too late for him to have a real chance of winning.
While this is Canelo’s first fight since losing to Dmitry Bivol in May, it’s a step up in the weight division against a very good light-heavyweight opponent and it just shows how good some people can be. How changed when he started questioning whether he was failing.
That fight was just one step too far for him in terms of raising detachments and I think he’s far from done. In fact, I would consider these his first years and I just can’t make an argument for Golovkin here despite what happened in the first two meetings between the two of you.
In my view, those who think Canelo is out of time are wrong and he will prove it next week. I would love to see Golovkin win, but I feel it will be the most decisive victory for Canelo, where they have now found themselves in their careers. “
The battle of the trio takes place this weekend in Las Vegas, and available to UK and US fans via DAZN PPV.
