This past weekend, undefeated Kazkh boxer Gennady Golovkin pushed his record to 31-0, with 28 knockouts, having stopped his last 18 opponents. As fans and pundits alike are wont to do, the talk immediately turned to who Golovkin should face next. A lot of names have been throw around, including fellow middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and undefeated supermiddleweight Andre Ward.
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However, the one name that makes the most sense to me is Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Alvarez is 44-1-1 with 31 knockouts. While that doesn’t quite hit Golovkin’s 90% finishing rate, Alvarez is still an exciting fighter that throws a lot of power punches. He’s also very similar in size to Golovkin, and although he’s never outright missed weight, Alvarez is large for light middleweight and will probably move up to middleweight soon enough. Plus, Golovkin is considered by some to be on the smaller end of middleweight, so he won’t have an enormous size advantage over Alvarez.
One of my favorite Alvarez fights is the completely one-sided beating he put on Josesito Lopez back in 2012. The reason I love it so very much is because it features probably my second-favorite striking technique in combat sports (And in boxing it is default my favorite), body shots.
Well, what do you know? Golovkin also has some very excellent body work in his highlight reel. I know a lot of the big-time boxing events get saddled with a hashtagged nickname, so if Alvarez and Golovkin do end up facing off, might I offer #OuchMyTummyGuts ?
