CANELO IS SLIGHT UNDERDOG AGAINST GGG
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 18 Aug 2017
Mexico?s Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) is a slight underdog (+125) with about a month to go before his much anticipated fight against Kazakhstan?s Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).The scheduled 12-rounder is billed as "Supremacy" and it is for the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, The Ring magazine, and lineal middleweight championship of the world. The bout will be held on September 16, 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be televised on HBO pay-per-view.
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Abel Sanchez, Golovkin's trainer, is confident GGG will beat Canelo Alvarez in their long-awaited middleweight title fight next month. Golovkin?s veteran coach however admits that an aging Golovkin will clash with a much-improved Alvarez when they face each other. The 27-year-old Alvarez is 7-0, including four knockouts, since absorbing his only professional defeat, a majority decision loss to unbeaten legend Floyd Mayweather Jr., then The Ring magazine's top pound-for-pound fighter, nearly four years ago.
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?I mean obviously we have to wait for the actual fight to see what unfolds and takes place, but in terms of magnitude, in terms of PR, in terms of attention that it?s receiving, in terms of people that will be watching, yeah, this has to be the biggest," Golden Boy promoter Oscar de la Hoya was quoted by badlefthook.com. ?And obviously we will have to wait until September 16th to see if it?s going to be the best, which I think it will be, in the history of the middleweight division.?
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Alvarez is ranked as the world's best boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec and and eighth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) and The Ring. He is also ranked as the world's best light middleweight by the TBRB and BoxRec, as well as ranked the best middleweight by The Ring and second by the TBRB.
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Golovkin, on the other hand, is ranked as the world's best middleweight by BoxRec and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), and second best by The Ring. He is also ranked as the world's second best boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring; and fifth by BoxRec and the TBRB.
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Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) hosted a media workout at the Wild Card Boxing Gym ahead of his 12-round fight against Yoshihiro "El Maestrito" Kamegai (27-3-2, 24 KOs) for the WBO world junior middleweight title that will ve fought on Saturday, August 26 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
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"Every time that I get fit for a fight, I just find that I work hard. It was not our plan to have 24 months off, but the time off just gave me time to use the opportunity to spend with my family," said Cotto before reporters. " I don't think the time off prolonged my career. I'm going to be here until December 21. After this fight, I'm going to rest. Then were going to see what we have."
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Cotto is the only four-division world champion in the rich boxing history of Puerto Rico, will return to the ring against Kamegai in a 12-round match in an attempt to wrest a sixth world championship in four weight classes as he marks his 23rd appearance on HBO. Cotto has held world titles in the super lightweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight divisions.
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Cotto has fought and defeated a bunch of big-named fighters in the last 15 years including Kelson Pinto, Demarcus ?Chop Chop? Corley, Ricardo ?Mochuelo? Torres, Paulie ?Magic Man? Malignaggi, Zab ?Super? Judah, Sugar Shane Mosley, Antonio ?El Tornado de Tijuana? Margarito, Ricardo ?El Matador? Mayorga and Sergio ?Maravilla? Martinez.
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Kamegai, 34, of Japan, has been known to engage in well-known action-packed fights, including a close decision loss to former world champion Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero in 2014. In his last two fights, an astonishing draw with Jesus "Renuente" Soto Karass last April and an eighth-round knockout of Soto Karass in the rematch in September.
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The near flawless shooting Koreans again wrought havoc on the Filipinos with a 118-86 domination in their knockout quarterfinal match in the 2017 Fiba Asia Cup at Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut, Lebanon. The loss stopped Gilas Pilipinas? successive wins in the group stage. The undermanned Philippine line-up were demoted to the battle for fifth place. The Koreans also handed them their worst finish since 2011 when Gilas Pilipinas placed fourth.
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Defense was the biggest drawback for Gilas as they allowed the more accurate Korean squad to shoot 73-percent from the field in the first half to grab a 16-point lead, 49-33. Terrence Romeo exploded in the second quarter pouring all his 22 points, but was handcuffed and went scoreless in the second half. It was the Philippines' 4th straight loss to Korea since the victorious 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, which qualified Gilas Pilipinas to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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