Former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton cannot see a path to victory for WBA and IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin 42-1-1 (37) when he steps up in weight this Saturday night to take on undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-2-2 (39) for the third time at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Golovkin had to settle for a majority draw in the first bout five years ago and lost by majority decision in their rematch one year later.
The 40-year-old Kazakh was last in action in April when he stopped Ryota Murata in nine frames in Japan. In that bout Golovkin looked out of sorts in the first four rounds before finding his rythmn by the midway point of the fight and putting a beating on Murata. It was Golovkin’s first fight in 16 months.
That performance has convinced Frampton that Alvarez will get over Golovkin.
“It’s hard for me to make a case for Golovkin in this fight, although he won the first fight in my eyes and everybody’s eyes,” Frampton said to iFL TV.
“A lot of people thought he won the second fight. I thought the second fight was fair. I thought Canelo did enough to edge it. So really, it should be one each, but it’s a draw and one.
“It should be one each and one to settle the score. I think Golovkin now, we saw in the Murata fight, he was hit a little too much. Although he’s still got that power, which can get him out of trouble, and he finally got the stoppage.
“I just think they’re saying that he slowed down a bit. People will say that Canelo has done the same. He lost to [Dmitry] Bivol in his last fight. I don’t think he has slowed down. I think he’s in his prime years right now.
“I think what happened in the Bivol fight was a case of Canelo pushing it a stretch too far. He can beat an old [Sergey] Kovalev at that weight [175-pounds].
“He can beat a big super middleweight like Callum Smith, who may be struggling to make super middleweight. But Bivol was a big, fresh, in his prime light heavyweight, and it was a step too far for him.
“I think I can only see one winner and it’s going to be Canelo in the most decisive yet.”
In a separate interview with The Belfast Telegraph, Frampton said: “Canelo has got to be a big favorite this time around even though he is coming off a loss, as Golovkin is now 40 and doesn’t look to be the same fighter as he once was at the peak of his powers.
“Golovkin did stop Ryota Murata in a unification last time out, but he didn’t look great early on and was having some problems. The one person none of us can beat is Father Time and this fight just seems a few years too late for him to have a real chance of winning.
“He was a lot more hittable in the Murata fight, but his power got him through it in the end. He is one of the biggest punchers of this generation of fighters and that will always give him a chance, but at the very high end of the sport it’s the small margins that make all the difference and that split-second off your reactions, punching speed, distance control or movement can be enough to make it a bad night.
“I would like to see Golovkin win, but I feel this is going to be the most decisive victory for Canelo given where they now find themselves in their careers.”
