FightHub catches up with Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez to talk about their preparations for Canelo Alvarez, what he makes of their past sparring sessions, and answers critics who believe Golovkin is trending downwards. Check out what he had to say.
Sanchez on how training camp has been going:
“Very good. We’ve been in camp now for four weeks, um, like normal, like every other preparation that we’ve done.”
On Teddy Atlas saying Golovkin is declining:
“I think you have to consider the source...People are saying but yet the people who really know and don’t want to lose money in Vegas seem to have Gennady as a favorite, so, you know, everybody’s got an opinion and that’s okay. That’s the way it should be.”
On if he still predicts that Golovkin will walk down Canelo on fight night and stop him:
“No, it’s not a prediction. I think that if you’ve seen the last 10 fights that Golovkin has had, that’s the way he fights. I’m not gonna do anything different in preparation because it’s just another fight for me and another fight for him. Yes, it’s probably the most known guy right now but it’s another fight.”
On how big it would be for Golovkin to with this fight emphatically:
“I think for boxing it’d be a big thing but for us, like I said, it’s just another fight. But because of the circus two weeks before, three weeks before, I think it’s important that we make boxing take note.”
On if he feels Golovkin’s sparring sessions with Canelo several years ago matters in this fight:
“Well first of all, Doug Fischer was present in one of the sparrings so if go back and read a Ring Magazine article about that — but it’s sparring. And [Canelo] is 19 years old, maybe 20 years old may at the...I don’t think he was 20 quite yet. But he was a welterweight at the time and Golovkin is not an abusive guy. Golovkin is there to spar, there to work, if you saw the Chavez tape at the Wild Card you know that he’s not trying to hurt anybody. He’s there to help each other and I think Canelo was getting ready for Alfonso Gomez.
“So it’s sparring, man. You’re not there to — if you hurt each other who do you spar with tomorrow? You know if you have quality sparring, world class sparring like that, you take care of each other.”
On the match-up itself:
“They both can bang the same — I don’t think so. I think Golovkin is a bigger puncher, I think Canelo is more of a slapper, but I think it’s a fight between two guys that earned the right to be there. Earned the right for this kind of fight.”
On Harold Lederman and Teddy Atlas agreeing that Golovkin is showing signs of aging:
“Let me ask you a question. Why didn’t those rumblings come when Andre Ward got dropped by Kovalev? Why didn’t those same rumblings come when Mayweather got rocked by Mosley? It’s ridiculous. Everybody’s got an opinion. I think that those who can’t seem to comment.”