Virgil Hunter: “You can’t underestimate Gennady Golovkin. To he say didn’t learn anything from the Canelo fight would be absurd”

15 Submitted by on Sat, 07 October 2017, 01:26

(by Jenna J) Last month boxing saw one of it’s most anticipated fights, Canelo vs. Golovkin, happen after two years of hype and promotion. The fight itself brought good action and while it did not deliver a classic fight, it was a good match that most were satisfied in terms of the action they saw in the ring. What people were not satisfied with, was the decision, as the fight was officially ruled a draw when most felt that Gennady Golovkin had done enough to get a win.

In part 3 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio special interview with Virgil Hunter, I discuss with him the fight that took place September 16th, Canelo vs. Golovkin. He shared his views on the decision and also talked about the perception that Canelo can only do better in a rematch. Additionally, Hunter talks about the career on Andre Ward and how boxing fans should remember him as a fighter. Here is what Andre Ward had to say.

Jenna J: What were your thoughts on the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight?

Virgil Hunter: I had Golovkin winning the fight. If I’m not mistaken, I had it 116-112. I had Golovkin winning the fight. I thought Alvarez fought well but I thought he fought in spurts. I thought Golovkin pretty much made the fight, but it was a great fight. A draw is acceptable if everybody can’t come to the conclusion of who won. There’s always a rematch to sort it out and find out who really won.

I expect them to fight each other next, that’s what they should do — I know Golovkin wants it. If Canelo went off to fight somebody else, I don’t think that would be received well, based on his great performance and also based on the fact that there’s really no way out for him other than to take the rematch. Unless Canelo wants to be criticized, there’s no reason for him not to take the fight. I expect to see a rematch and hopefully we can get a clear and concise winner on paper in that match.

Jenna J: What do you think of the people who think Golovkin may not do as well in a rematch due to the fact of him being older?

Virgil Hunter: People are always going to have their say so. If you wanted to be logical, that’s a logical way to think. That’s not a wrong way to think, but you can’t underestimate a fighter of Golovkin’s caliber. To say that Golovkin didn’t learn anything in that fight would be absurd. To say that he doesn’t have any room to improve is absurd.

They say Canelo is younger and has more room to improve, but I don’t see where age makes a difference in improvement. If that was the case, then young fighters would be running the game, we wouldn’t have Bernard Hopkins lasting until he was forty. There’s always room to grow regardless of your age, as long as you’re in the game, there’s always some things you can improve on. I still see it as a fifty-fifty fight, I’m sure both guys will make adjustments that they need to make and it will probably turn out to be a better fight.

Jenna J: What do you think Canelo would need to do to win rematch?

Virgil Hunter: I’ll put it this way, if Canelo is going to win, he’s going to have to fight a different fight than what he fought before. I think if Canelo fights the same fight, they’re going to see it the same way. Not to say that he’s not being successful, but in order to really make it clear, he’s going to have to stand his ground in every round. If he’s able to do that, then he’s got a great chance of winning. If he can’t and it’s the same kind of fight, then people will tend to look at it the same way, unless he’s so devastating in his counter punching. I can’t see being any other way but the way the first fight was.

Jenna J: When fights fans look back at the career of Andre Ward, how do you think they should remember him?

Virgil Hunter: If they’re going to be honest with themselves, they have to remember him as a great fighter. What he’s done you can’t take it away from him. You can argue against it, you can point fingers here and there like we can do with every single fighter’s career. We can do that on every single fighter, but the bottom line is that he did it his way and the way that we planned it is the way it turned out.

To have a young man come to you at nine years old and want to box, to lay out all the things that you wanted to accomplish. I have a diary that I started when he was eleven and every single thing I predicted in this diary I had completed it before he was seventeen. Every single thing, from the broadcasting to the gold medal, to the middleweight championship, I predicted it and it came true. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, and to be able to say that I never saw him lose a fight, I never saw him hurt in a fight, that’s a great accomplishment. The memories will always be those of a winner.

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15 Responses to "Virgil Hunter: “You can’t underestimate Gennady Golovkin. To he say didn’t learn anything from the Canelo fight would be absurd”"
  1. WABOXING says:

    GGG WOULD STILL WIN THE REMATCH. CANELO RAN AND RUNNING IS WHAT GGG WILL PREPARE FOR IN THE REMATCH.

  2. ccdunited says:

    Canelo is younger and now knows he can get through a GGG fight, all he has to do is a little more and he will win it. That fight was close and a draw is reasonable.

  3. dEON says:

    im not sure what the obsession is with a second fight. The first was a let down and the second will be much of the same.

  4. Tatabanya says:

    Golovkin will win the rematch, and they will give it to Canelo for good this time.

  5. OctoberRed says:

    I see Canelo going for it, taking the rematch. He went twelve with him, took his shots well, no reason to be afraid.

  6. boxingitis says:

    It was close fight. GGG missed 500 punches, but added pressure in the fight which seem to casuals he won the fight. They both landed about the same amount of punches but I believe Canelo landed the clearer and harder punches.

    • robbyheartbaby says:

      well you’re wrong son, and 99.5% of the boxing world not just ‘casuals’ would agree. If Canelo wants to win he needs to fight for longer periods. Golovkin had to press the issue way too often and it was definitely 116-112 in GGG’s favour, the rematch needs to happen.
      robbyheartbaby is offline

      • Shadoww702 says:

        BS on your 99.5% had GGG winning 8-4. Your lying. Most had 7-5.
        Canelo landed the cleaner and better punches. That uppercut almost took ggg head off!!

        This guy didnt even watch the fight. And if you did it must of been on a sht stream where you couldnt make sht out…

  7. Lopez_Boxing says:

    The rematch will happen and Ill bet my house on canelo

  8. Realizniguhnit says:

    For someone that’s suppose to be in their prime Canelo is quite lazy, here you had GGG at 30+ fighting 3-4 times a year..

    If anything Canelo should be fighting Cotto again in Dec pick up an easy win and rematch GGG in May

    But this guy wants to sit around for half a year…

    And it’s ashame because it slows GGG’s career up we all know GGG generally fights later in the year then again around March-April and now he has to sit around until May when he’s 36 years old because GBP says so its BS….

  9. sammybee says:

    Canelo has recently said Golovkin will be his next fight in May 2018 so for now we should take his word.

    On a side note,,,suddenly the middleweight division has exploded back into life,,,I can honestly see both Golovkin and Canelo getting beat soon with the talent coming through not to mention with the likes of Charlo and Andrade moving up, I think things will start heating up next year.

    • Patsfan bri says:

      Why the hell wait til May ? I don’t think GGG will wait that long . Canelo waited on this fight til GGG slowed down a bit and couldn’t get the job done so now he want to wait til GGG turns 36. I mean WTF.

  10. steeve steel says:

    Obviously, Virgil knows nothing about boxing. That’s why he picked GGG as the clear winner! lol

  11. Diegosome1 says:

    Why are people acting like only Triple G fans saw a win? Literally 90% of the people watching saw Triple G win and y’all spin master bull**** artists are acting that because it was a competitive fight it could’ve gone either way. No. You’re wrong. Stop it.

  12. champion4ever says:

    It sounds to me that Virgil Hunter wants to see Canelo ass whooped badly. It’s now a personal thing to him. He’s still holding a grudge over the Khan fight.