Jim Lampley on Canelo vs Golovkin: It's a disservice to boxing if fight doesn't happen next

On Canelo vs GGG

"I wanna see GGG against Canelo, assuming Canelo wins tomorrow night, and I think it's a disservice to boxing if the fight does not take place in September, because the audience is ready right now. There are a thousand different ways you can spin why it's a better idea for Canelo to bypass it now and go on to something else, but at the end of the day, that's not a service to boxing fans. Oscar De La Hoya is very explicit in saying this sport needs to get beyond the negative hangover of Mayweather vs Pacquiao, and I agree with him. The way to do that is not to create another negative impression, by continuing to stretch out the audience on the fight that it wants to see right now. The audience wants to see GGG vs Canelo."

On the weight issues

"I think it's unreasonable for GGG's side to insist upon 160 when it's pretty clear to me that they can make the fight at 157. I believe that the Canelo side would be logical and reasonable about 157. I think that GGG also has to accept, most likely, that he's not going to get 45 percent of the money, regardless of what the governing body formula is. If it has to be 40-60 or something in that range, then GGG should give up the money necessary to go ahead and get the fight. That's what's good for him, that's what's good for boxing."

Predicting Canelo-GGG

"I think it's a mystery fight, because one of the things I always say about Canelo is his unobserved great quality is defense. I think he showed against Miguel Cotto in particular that he's a high quality defender who understands the mechanics of defense, and who commits first to making sure that he's not going to make a big mistake in the fight. He limits the downside before he starts looking for the upside. GGG's the opposite way around. He's in there to burn down your house, he's in there to wipe out your family, he's scorched earth. He's looking for a knockout from the first moment that he gets into the ring. That might play into the hands of a more tactical counterpuncher like Canelo, or the other possibility is that Canelo is just another guy who has trouble handling GGG's punch, like every other person he's fought so far. Let's find out!"

On the Mayweather-McGregor rumor

"Uh, you know, that's more sort of circus showbiz in which I'm not terribly interested. It's always been my opinion that if a high-quality MMA fighter fights a high-quality boxer under MMA rules, the MMA fighter is going to win, and if a high-quality boxer fights a high-quality MMA fighter under boxing rules, then the boxer is going to win. So if Floyd Mayweather fought Conor McGregor under boxing rules, my instinct is to say Floyd Maywether would win that. And I don't even know how big Conor McGregor is, but if they fought under MMA rules, then my instinct is to say that Conor McGregor is gonna win that. I'm not intrigued enough by that predictable equation to be desperate to see the fight either way."