IT’S a really good fight. They’ve sparred in the past. They key thing is they have sparred in the past and what’s gone on in that sparring. People say you can’t take a lot from sparring because Canelo Alvarez could have come in and helped GGG out but not be in shape. Canelo could have been in shape and GGG wasn’t in shape or both of them could have been in shape and it could have been a really competitive spar. But only the people that were there know.
GGG is very confident of beating Canelo but Canelo is very confident in the ring. That confidence comes from their own ability and also I feel a little bit on what’s gone on in the sparring in the past. I do feel Canelo has got very, very quick hands. I think very underestimated. His jab was very, very good [against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr]. It was the key to the victory of what was a very good win. GGG’s a very good amateur fighter. I feel his last one or two fights, he’s always been wanting to entertain the crowd, wanting the ‘you hit me, I hit you’ mentality, willing to take a shot to land a shot. I do feel he can’t do that with Canelo. I do feel GGG may go back to what he was good at, with good feet, good amateur breeding in him and box a little bit more.
Canelo is very hard to hit clean, very hard to hit clean. You’ve seen the other day when Chavez had him where he wanted him, he was reluctant to pull the trigger because of the fear of what was coming back in the combinations. Canelo can come off the ropes with right hands, left hooks, right uppercuts, double and treble up on the same hand and he keeps you thinking. Not only that when you have Canelo in that situation on the ropes, his target is very small. He doesn’t have a big target, he covers his body up well. He has big arms, he covers it up well, he crouches well, he’s very hard to hit. No one has really seen Canelo really hurt with anything and the only way to beat Canelo has in the past has been somebody with good ringcraft and good feet, which Floyd Mayweather has. Does GGG have good ringcraft? Yeah, he does. Does he have good feet? Maybe not of late but he has. And can he make him fall short? Yeah he can. So that’s what makes it a really fascinating fight but I do feel sooner or later in the exchanges, and they will exchange, I always seem to go with: who has the better defence will usually win the fight. And in exchanges I just think Canelo is just that little bit better, I think he fights better up close than what GGG does in the pocket. GGG’s a good midrange fighter. He’s got a lot of power mid-range. Mid range, three quarter length range, gets lots of power, gets lots of people knocked out. Right up close and in the pocket? I think Canelo, that’s his game. I think Canelo’s the better inside fighter than GGG.
The capabilities are in there GGG to win this fight. He has to go back to some of the old good stuff, sharpen up, don’t be too lazy, don’t get caught with silly shots. I do feel a lot of people underestimate the speed of Canelo’s punches and his jab. He has a very, very good jab.
Would GGG have stopped Chavez, would Canelo have stopped Daniel Jacobs? Could the results have changed much different, or would the fights have been very similar? That’s what makes it an interesting fight. If they’d have swapped opponents last time out would the results have been any different. Would you have said GGG will knock Chavez out within six rounds on that performance? Would you have said on GGG’s last performance, Canelo would have stopped Daniel Jacobs? That’s what makes it such a fascinating fight.
