Boxing’s Biggest Name vs Boxing’s Hardest Puncher

The boxing world is still reeling from the events that unfolded during the Mayweather vs McGregor match Saturday Aug. 26.

On Sept. 16, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the biggest name in boxing, will face one of the most feared knockout artists in combat sports today, Gennady Gennadyevich “GGG” Golovkin.

The matchup is one that boxing enthusiast have been waiting for since GGG’s rise to prominence in the sport.

The two athlete’s styles are nearly complete opposites: Canelo is a crafty, fast and explosive counter puncher while GGG is an aggressive fighter willing to take a punch to land one, and is always looking for the finish.

What they do have in common is the ability to knockout their opponents with a single punch. Canelo has won 34 of his 49 victories by knockout and has only ever lost by decision once to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Other than the Mayweather fight, Canelo has looked nearly unstoppable against top tier opponents like Miguel Cotto and Amir Khan.

However GGG will be the biggest power puncher Canelo has ever faced and boxing fans still wonder how Canelo will react to the pressure and artillery GGG brings.

Can Canelo avoid the brawl with GGG, and if he can’t, can he withstand GGG’s power and land the better punches in the exchanges?

GGG also has many questions to answer in his fight with the Mexican star Alvarez.

Golovkin boasts and impressive undefeated record of 37 wins with 33 knockouts and never being dropped in a single contest, as well as claiming to have never even been dazed.

GGG’s forward pressing, aggressive but overall accurate and measured style has helped him stop David Lemieux, Willie Monroe and Dominic Wade dead in their tracks.

The Kazakhstani fighter has looked less than overwhelming in his last two outings.

Kell Brook was able to handle GGG’s power very well and proved to be a bigger challenge than expected before Brook’s corner threw in the towel in the fifth round.

Following the fight with Brook, Daniel Jacobs gave GGG the hardest fought contest of Golovkin’s career. Jacobs was able to recover after being dropped early on and just lost the fight to GGG by a razor thin margin.

Canelo will undoubtedly be GGG’s most high profile and arguably his most skilled opponent. Canelo is more explosive, faster and a powerful counter puncher, seemingly tailor made for a fighter who comes in and takes punches to give them like GGG.

GGG will have to show respect for Canelo’s power and try to use his jab and timing to offset Canelo’s speed and power like he did against Lemieux. But Lemieux and Canelo are very different fighters and GGG will still have to be prepared to make adjustments and avoid Canelo’s best punches, the left hook to the body and overhand right.

Canelo’s keys to victory lie in not allowing GGG to get comfortable and controlling the exchange.  Canelo has to land single punches to wear GGG down and wait for the opportunity to land his shots, a brawl will only benefit GGG.

Canelo also has to be careful to avoid GGG’s left hand, which can be used as a power punch regardless of if it’s thrown as a jab or a hook.  The fight can go down a number a ways and both fighters will have to bring their absolute best to beat the other.

The slightest mistake can cost either one of them their consciousness, the only thing that will truly dictate who wins this fight is who shows up to win on Sept. 26.