By Sean Jones: Paulie Malignaggi says Canelo Alvarez did a good job of aging Gennadiy Golovkin to 40 before fighting him, but he can’t do the same against David Benavidez.
Malignaggi says Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) can’t age the 25-year-old Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) like he did against Golovkin because the longer he waits, the worse he gets. be for him
Paulie claims that Canelo’s recent comment about not wanting to fight Mexican fighters is a “dodge” because he had no problem fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in the past, and he is Mexican.
If Canelo had no problem adjusting to Chavez Jr, then he should have no qualms about facing Benavidez or Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.
Malignaggi was a bit conflicted about what he saw from Canelo last weekend with his victory over Golovkin at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While he was impressed with the way Canelo started, he was concerned with the way he faced Golovkin in the championship rounds.
Paulie expected more from the 32-year-old Canelo, who is still at the zenith of his career, fighting a very old-looking Golovkin.
“I think Golovkin should retire despite having the middleweight titles, but it’s kind of hard to walk away when you have titles and you get paid to defend them,” Paulie Malignaggi told Paulie TV.
“With Canelo Alvarez, I would like to see him fight Benavidez. He always had the third Golovkin fight in his back pocket. He could just outplay Golovkin and pick him and pick him whenever he wanted, especially when he didn’t even have a loss on his record against Golovkin, although he probably deserved at least one.
“I was going to leave Golovkin thirsty for that third fight. So the fight was always in his back pocket, and he could get past Golovkin and fight him.
“Benavidez is the guy that if you’re going to stay at 168 with those titles, the world wants to see Canelo defend himself. That would be an amazing fight.
“I know that Canelo has mentioned that he doesn’t want to defend himself against the Mexicans. He is trying to play that card, but Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was Mexican and was probably the worst Mexican champion in boxing history.
“So if he [Canelo] chose to fight him, there is no reason why he shouldn’t give some top tier Mexican champions a chance, be it David Benavidez at 168, that would be awesome. Also, possibly Zurdo Ramírez if he is able to succeed against [Dmitry] bivol. Certainly he would join the conversation as well.
“I think it’s an evasion, ‘I don’t want to fight against the routine of Mexican boxers.’ I would love to see a Canelo defense of all undisputed titles against David Benavidez. Let me tell you something. David Benavidez is the youngest guy, so you can’t beat David Benavidez.
“The longer Canelo waits to fight him, the worse it will be for him in the aging process because David is the youngest.
“I can’t live my life up to your [Canelo] a** like you guys do but I certainly wish he would have closed the show better against the 40 year old guy [Golovkin] we always knew he was going to beat at this age.
“Canelo mentioned that he needs to rest. He himself has had a busy schedule. Maybe a little rest will do you good. I don’t see him having a chance against Bivol.
“Nothing I saw last night made me think that I would have a real chance of beating Dmitry Bivol. Of course, Bivol has his hands full with Zurdo Ramírez. That is a very good fight.
“Zurdo and Bivol is a very good fight that I really want to see. Maybe Canelo will make a decision on whether or not he wants Bivol next based on how Bivol looks in the fight with Ramirez.
“First of all, whether he wins or loses, and two, how does he see himself doing this or that. Golovkin last night seemed to be predominantly a chatterbox. He really couldn’t pull the trigger on anything else.
“Even on his jab many times, he got very close to midrange in the fight and couldn’t get out. He was literally looking at Canelo, and Canelo would start throwing some explosive shots instead of him. He didn’t even remove them right away.
“Golovkin had a chance to get out first when he was in that range, but he just didn’t. Canelo’s jab was actually so effective that he was backing up Golovkin. Even when he missed, many times when Golovkin got into position and didn’t pull the trigger.
“Golovkin, many times, especially in the first three quarters of the fight, was in range to strike, but just couldn’t pull the trigger. It really is the old man syndrome where you’re in a hitting position and you see the opening, but you don’t shoot.
“If you look at the fight, Golovkin was in range a lot. He was right there, but he couldn’t get away with anything creative other than playing right hands and playing jabs.
“Around the seventh and eighth rounds, he started showing a little short hook at times. I thought at the end of the fight; Interestingly, Golovkin began to push the issue a bit further and went all out.
“He would just be there, and Canelo would hit him twice, and Golovkin could never counter that much. He was never a threat to knock Canelo out, but he pushed things a little further to the point where Canelo had to have some respect for him and he started backing off constantly and wasn’t that fired up anymore.
“He really leaves the fight questioning more or less the same things about Canelo as well. Canelo doesn’t usually finish fights that well. He ends fights on the slow end. Against Bivol, he certainly finished the fight with a slow finish.
“Against a 40-year-old man, one would expect him to have a more explosive finish. I’m not saying you have to be the first to knock out Golovkin, but that wouldn’t surprise me. You just imagine that the younger, fresher guy will finish more explosively and with an advantage against the older 40-year-old.
“People are going to say that Canelo had a very busy schedule and that he has been a professional since he was 15 years old. Listen, Golovkin has had a million amateur fights, and there, they don’t just have a million amateur fights on the record. They also have a million more unofficially in smokers and everything else.
“When it comes to mileage on the odometer, I think Golovkin has more mileage on the odometer, not just because of age but because of the quality he was fighting. Canelo turned pro at age 15, fighting taxi drivers.
“Golovkin has been fighting world-class opponents since very early in his amateur days. The Soviet amateur boxing system was crazy.
“He would step back and give up that position. He would then have to start over with Canelo going back to the middle of the ring and having better legs and switching ranges; he gave Canelo a lot of advantages for the rest of those rounds or a big part of those rounds.
“I credit Golovkin for finishing the fight strong. I don’t think there are any doubts at that time. Still, you have to question Canelo’s ability to close out fights strongly.
“Against a 40-year-old Golovkin, one would expect a 32-year-old phenom to close the show in more spectacular fashion against this older guy, who was fading.
“I still find it a little disconcerting that he couldn’t finish the fight stronger against this old man. At the same time, it’s a reason to praise Golovkin for his Hall of Fame career.
“He mentioned that he wants to go back to middleweight. I think it would be a great way to retire. He didn’t do himself a favor last night.
“I think retiring now would be fantastic for him instead of having a guy like Charlo put you out of your misery and really risk putting you out completely.
“At a certain point, there will be nothing left. You keep going to the bottom of the barrel at a certain age, and there will be nothing left. She fought well. He had Canelo in front of him and he fought well and they didn’t stop him,” Malignaggi said.
