Former world champion Sergio Mora is backing Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to win his upcoming trilogy clash with Gennadiy Golovkin – but at the same time Mora is not ruling out the possibility of an upset by Golovkin.
Their clash, for Canelo’s WBO, IBF, WBA, WBC super middleweight titles, will take place on September 17th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“As far as the X’s and O’s and who wins the fight, no, it hasn’t changed. I still favor Canelo, and I would favor Canelo maybe even by stoppage. What does make things interesting is Canelo’s coming off a loss. Canelo is so bitter about Golovkin, and they know each other so well,” Mora told Fighthype.com.
“Golovkin is coming off a win, and he’s not going to have to sacrifice to make 160. He can be stronger and bigger at 168. They’ve felt each other’s power. That fight ends in a knockout, and both of them have the power to end it with a knockout. I would favor Canelo, of course, but I’m not going to totally write off Golovkin.”
Their first two bouts took place in the middleweight division.
In 2017, the first meeting ended in a controversial twelve round split draw – while the 2018 rematch saw Canelo win a razor-close twelve round majority decision.
“Golovkin is still a monster and has only technically lost to Canelo. A lot of people think that he didn’t even lose that. You can’t just say, ‘Well, he’s 40.’ Scratch that,” Mora said.
“Golovkin is one of these guys that still has power, can still take a big punch, lives a clean lifestyle, and is coming off some impressive victories. So that’s the momentum going in his direction. For Canelo, maybe it’s the flipside. He’s been fighting since he was 15 years old, he’s coming off a loss, the injuries might be catching up to him, and he might be burned out.
“You can flip that coin so many ways, but I’m excited because trilogies end in knockouts, and we’re going to get a knockout in this one.”