The Superfight II (Canelo V GGG): Politics As Usual

Actually it's “Pah-li-tix [as] Use you Al.”

Get cha urban on and throw some flare in that shit.

Around this time last year, thoughts of conspiracy surrounded Gennady Golovkin V Daniel Jacobs, but not really for reasons that pertained to judges. An air of invincibility had been robbed and an investigation was launched.

Jacobs went to Oakland and had an all-star team in preparation that included none other than world #1 Andre Ward, an avowed anti-GGG alchemist. “The Miracle Man” put aside any rehydration clause and faced Triple G as a damn near black, super middleweight Captain America in Army fatigues. 12 revealing rounds later, Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and Canelo Alvarez had enough data to make the fight.

Golovkin did win…but he didn't beat Jacobs. After another 12 rounds with Canelo, Golovkin did beat him…but he didn't win.

Let's say for the rematch that Golovkin comes in as an avenger from Kazakhstan in all black prepared to go out on his U.S. shield. Just how much do you think that matters if Alvarez comes to the ring as a mighty Mexican titan version of Thanos?

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And so it is, the preemptive war began. Clenbuterol has made its way into the sports lexicon as a decided no-no attached to the Mexican flag. To say that “the beef” between these fighters (who might as well be nations) has escalated beyond bovine proportion is an understatement. Oh yes, they hate each other now.

In two years, Canelo has gone from “We don't fuck around in Mexico” to “I'm going to kick your fucking ass” angry …

..over tainted media dishes served cold. If things were quietly chippy between trainer Abel Sanchez and The Reynoso Boys before– now they're testy. Never known to be politically correct, when I caught up with the younger Eddie at The Forum in Inglewood last summer, he regarded Sanchez as “a traitor” and “very clever”.

It's been nearly two years since Canelo caught a mere con with a titanic right hand in front of a ringside Golovkin, before telling him last year: “Luck is for the mediocre my friend.” This, after he brushed aside a bad proxy of Triple G in Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and a sporting “Good luck” from Golovkin as their fight was announced last Cinco de Mayo.

Golovkin seethed; wore the same Army fatigues of war as Jacobs and was unlucky with his ‘right hand man' on September 16, 2017. He whiffed with it badly, and could not floor or really hurt Alvarez on this night, which makes the PED dawning of this day one of dark suspense.

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This is certainly not how you sell a rematch of this magnitude – because it sells itself, but Golovkin has done something fairly extraordinary: he's been a B-side commodity exerting an A-side force with the gloves off. He may smile and give off the impression of an angel of innocence, but he's showing that he's a demon at the business table beyond the ring, ready to pound the gavel of guilty. This rematch will not go the distance.

It is interesting to see that the same NSAC that seemed to favor Canelo the first time (.ie the alleged judge corruption and controversy at the weigh-in, complete with a most suspicious pill from Eddie Reynoso), is all over his ass this time.

With Billy Joe Saunders being tossed around in Destraction 101 and a made-for-TV hearing slated for April 10, Golovkin has – out of character – been uncommonly aggressive in a 13th round he's never known. There've been ESPN appearances, verbal jabs as thunderous as his own… I thought he won the first fight, but I know Canelo could've done more. I think Golovkin knows that too, while also understanding that if Jacobs primed him for prime removal, Canelo just may have removed him from it entirely as he enters his own.

You're naive if you believe that The Summit from Big Bear (a place of thin air where Golden Boy CEO De La Hoya actually used to run) didn't release a figurative grizzly to chase Canelo away from preparation and into psychological doubt. If politics is a dirty game at the highest levels, then so too is boxing, as Team Golovkin appears to have played its trump card. Perhaps now would be a good time for Canelo to throw out an ace of Putin. When all else fails, blame it on Russia.