Johnathon Banks: “If Gennady Golovkin can get past Jacobs, he will have no problems with Canelo. Jacobs is the tougher fight!”

Johnathon Banks is a former cruiserweight & heavyweight contender, now best known for being the head trainer of former undisputed heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko. Banks took the position as head cornerman after the passing of the legendary Emmanuel Steward and had maintained Klitschko’s spot at the top until the unexpected defeat to Tyson Fury. Now after a career long lay off, Banks and Klitschko are set to return against undefeated champion Anthony Joshua.

In part 1 of my Interview with Johnathon Banks, I get his views on the current state of the sport and his thoughts on some of the biggest upcoming fights. Banks talks about the upcoming Golovkin-Jacobs bout, sharing his prediction for the fight and giving his views on a Golovkin vs. Canelo match up. Johnathon also speaks on the stalled Manny Pacquiao-Amir Khan bout and gives his views on who he thinks would make for a tougher challenge. Additionally, Banks breaks down a Crawford vs. Pacquiao fight and gives his prediction. Here is what Johnathon Banks had to say.

(Click play to listen to the full interview including Banks thoughts on Brook vs. Spence)

Robert Brown: If Gennady Golovkin gets past Daniel Jacobs and Canelo gets past Chavez Jr, do you think it’s likely that we see a Canelo-Golovkin fight? Who do you think would win that fight

Johnathon Banks: First of all, I think Jacobs is going to be Golovkin’s hardest, toughest and slickest opponent up to today. This is going to be his biggest test. He has a guy his size and he’s fast, slick and is a good boxer. I think it’s going to be a hard fight.

Golovkin does have the advantage with the punching power but Jacobs can punch too. Punch by punch numbers, I don’t think Jacobs punches as hard as hard as ‘GGG’ but he doesn’t have to punch as hard as him, as long as he can punch. That’s going to be a very tough fight, this is going to be the biggest test for Golovkin.

If ‘GGG’ can get past Jacobs, he will have no problems with Canelo. Jacobs is the tougher fight between the two, I think between Canelo and Jacobs, Jacobs is the tougher fight. That’s nothing negative towards Canelo at all, I think Canelo is a world class fighter but Jacobs is just a little bit bigger. Jacobs is a solid 160lb’er and Canelo is not.

Robert Brown: Now that Manny Pacquiao vs. Amir Khan seems to be off, what are your thoughts on a potential fight between Pacquiao and Terence Crawford?

Johnathon Banks: I wouldn’t have wanted to see Pacquiao vs. Khan because it wouldn’t have meant anything. If Khan won, what does it mean? If Pacquiao wins, what does it win? It’s a meaningless fight.

I think Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford will be a passing of the torch. If Crawford has a win over Pacquiao, then Crawford is basically taking Pacquiao’s spot in the division. I think he will have a better chance at ruling his division than Amir Khan. I take nothing away from Khan, I think he’s a very tough fighter but as far as the best fight for Pacquiao, I would personally like to see Terence Crawford take that fight.

Robert Brown: If Pacquiao and Crawford do fight, who would you be favoring?

Johnathon Banks: You have to look at Manny Pacquiao’s experience, he has ten times the experience, but Crawford is fresh, young, and he’s consistent at what he does. If I was in Terence Crawford’s corner, there’s no one in the world that I would agree with him switching to southpaw against Manny Pacquiao. You don’t do stuff like that, you stick to what you’re best at. He’s okay at southpaw, but he’s a better right handed fighter than he is a southpaw fighter.

Robert Brown: So would you favor Pacquiao based on his experience?

Johnathon Banks: I actually favor Crawford. Don’t get me wrong, I think it would be a hard fight for Crawford but it would be his fight to win. I can’t say anything negative about Pacquiao, he’s a top notch fighter. You can’t take anything away from him in that regard, but I just believe that fight will favor Terence Crawford, but he will have a lot to prove when he faces Pacquiao.