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Retired former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew believes IBF and WBA middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin 42-1-1 (37) will be on a hiding to nothing in a third fight against Mexican superstar and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-1-2 (39).
The 40-year-old Golovkin returned to the ring on Saturday night after a 16 month layoff to lift the WBA belt from Ryota Murata 16-3 (13) in Japan, paving the way for a trilogy bout with Alvarez in April.
The 31-year-old Alvarez is set to step up in weight to face WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 19-0 (11) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 7.
Alvarez and Golovkin battled to a controversial split draw in September 2017 with Alvarez edging their rematch a year later by majority decision.
But at this stage of their careers, Bellew sees it as one-way traffic.
“This was a perfect audition for Triple G for a third fight with Canelo. If you look at it from an audition perspective, the audition was absolutely perfect. He looked vulnerable, he looked aged, he was being pushed back by a man who is not known as a severe puncher,” Bellew told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Looking at Triple G’s side and how he should be feeling, I wouldn’t be going anywhere near Canelo if I was him. It’s going to end badly in my opinion.
“Age waits for no man, that was clear to see. Triple G in my opinion isn’t what he once was and ideally I don’t want to see him get brutally beaten up by Canelo in a third fight, because I think that’s what will happen.
“The reality is only one fighter has got better here and we all know who that is. He hasn’t just got better he’s got bigger and stronger… and I think it will show if they meet for a third time.”
Bellew’s comments echo those of former world champion and ESPN commentator Tim Bradley.
“He’s going to mop up Golovkin,” Bradley said to FightHype. “I thought Golovkin looked terrible at the beginning and then closed strong at the end, which is good.
“It showed that he has great conditioning. He’s still able to fight. He still has some power, yeah. Punch placement and I saw some good lateral movement from him. But Canelo is on another level, man, for Golovkin.”
The first two fights between Golovkin and Alvarez took place at 160 pound. The trilogy fight will take place eight pounds north at super middleweight.
“[Going to 168], that’s going to slow [Golovkin] down,” Bradley said. “I think that’s honestly going to slow him down. It’s a different animal [with Canelo]. It’s [Golovkin’s] first fight at 168 pounds. Canelo has fought at that weight and 175. Come on, dog.
“So I see [Canelo] beating him and stopping him late. You saw it early on in his fight against Murata. Murata was going down to the body and pushing him back. That’s what Canelo is going to do. He’s going to press forward [against Golovkin].
“He’s a little more slippier than, a lot more slippier than Murata and he’s going to be landing his kill shots over the top – right hands, left hooks, whatever. He’s going to set him up.
“I think conditioning-wise, Canelo is at his peak right now, he’s fighting at his peak. I see him stopping [Golovkin], bro, and if he doesn’t stop him, he’s going to hurt him really badly in the later rounds for sure.”
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