Steve Farhood: “Golovkin has shown a little bit more vulnerability lately. I’m picking Canelo Alvarez to win in a minor upset.”

Showtime boxing commentator Steve Fahood is not only one of the most respected analysts in the sport, but he is also a Hall of Famer, having been enshrined in June of this year. Steve’s main job is with the long running Showtime series Shobox, which has seen up and coming fighters, become world champions.

In part 2 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview with Steve Farhood, I get his thoughts on Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Jeff Horn and his views on where Pacquiao goes next. Farhood also gives his take on whether he believes there will be fan backlash with Mayweather-McGregor. Additionally, Farhood breaks down Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo and gives his prediction for the fight. Here is what Steve Farhood had to say.

Jenna J: What did you think of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Jeff Horn? And what did you think about the event as a whole?

Steve Farhood: Well, I think Horn’s effort was really good, this is a guy who I didn’t know a thing about, I don’t know if you did. This was a guy who had no profile at all in America, certainly, so we didn’t expect much. As a matter of fact it was supposed to be Many’s first knock out in years, and he almost got that knock out in the 9th round.

What did I think of the fight in general? It was an entertaining fight for sure, and I think that Manny at his best would’ve of beaten this guy pretty easily – at least more convincingly than he should have. I think he did deserve the decision, but I didn’t see it as a robbery. I don’t like scoring fights off of the TV, obviously we all have to do that because we are not in every fight, but I just ask people to understand it; scoring a fight from TV versus being there is a very different experience.

With that said, I thought Manny won by two to three points. I gave him a 10-8 round, I think it was in the 9th round when he hurt Horn. It was understandable that Horn stole a few rounds, and apparently when the WBA asked some independent judges to score the fight recently, they kind of scored it the same way, so I don’t see how it was a robbery. I don’t think it was, even though I did think Pacquiao might have edged him.

Jenna J: Where do you think Pacquiao goes from here? A Jeff Horn rematch?

Steve Farhood: Well the fight that makes sense from Top Rank’s perspective is Terence Crawford and I don’t think there is any doubt of that. The question is, does Manny want that fight? Does Freddy Roach want that fight? Do they view that as too much risk? I mean Manny would be underdog in that fight I would think, so is that too much risk for the money they’d make? I don’t know, but that’s what make sense, because then Top Rank can use Manny to elevate Crawford and that’s how it’s done in boxing, and has been done for years. That’s the fight that I think makes the most sense.

I don’t see Pacquiao fighting anybody on the other side of the street so to speak, which is the Al Haymon welterweights, the Showtime welterweights. I don’t see that happening. If it did happen it would be great, because there are so many interesting match-ups you can make. Manny against some of the better welterweights, whether it would be Porter or Danny Garcia, or Thurman, I would love to see it.

Jenna J: Another big fight coming up is the middleweight showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. First off, do you think the Mayweather vs McGregor fight is going to hurt that promotion being the fact that they are so close together?

Steve Farhood: I think the audience for Mayweather-McGregor is going to be largely MMA fans, if they are entertained, I think it could help. It’s going to take away a little pre-fight publicity sure, but I think the audience is different, and I think that if MMA fans’ eye balls are exposed to boxing because of the Mayweather-McGregor fight, that’s good for boxing ultimately.

I think it could be good for Mayweather-McGregor, because if it’s an entertaining evening and it’s a spectacle and event more than a fight, let’s not call something it’s not, I think that would be positive. It’s a different audience and I don’t think that people are not going to buy Canelo-Golovkin because of Mayweather. I don’t see that happening. Canelo and GGG is really a good fight that’s coming along at the right time, it’s competitive, two of the best and biggest names in boxing, so I don’t think it will be hurt badly by Mayweather, in fact, it could be helpful.

Jenna J: In terms of the fight itself Golovkin-Canelo, what do you expect to happen? Can give a prediction on that one?

Steve Farhood: Yeah I could talk about it a little more because I won’t be scoring it. I think the fight is coming along in a really good time for Canelo. Golovkin has shown a little bit more vulnerability lately in the Brook and the Danny Jacobs fight. Canelo took his time moving up to 160, it won’t surprise me if he’s the bigger fighter in the ring at the time of the fight, because he does blow up after the weigh in. I like his chances, I’m picking him to win in a minor upset.

You know the odds are not very wide for Golovkin, not as big as they would have been a couple of years ago, so maybe the fight is just coming at the right time for Canelo, but I give him a real good chance to outbox Golovkin. Obviously, if he can’t take the big punch, well then he’s going to get knocked out because he’s going to give Golovkin chances, but if he can box him and limit the danger, and limit the number of big punches he takes, I could see him like squeezing out a twelve round decision.

Jenna J: Do you see a close fight being maybe taken away from Golovkin if it goes to a decision?

Steve Farhood: Well I mean it could happen, but I don’t think it will happen because Canelo is the younger star to be sort of speak. You know really good judges, and I am anticipating that only really experienced good judges will be assigned to that fight of that magnitude. They don’t look at it that way, they don’t bring that bias into a  fight I mean the good ones don’t anyway, I can’t speak for everybody, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Sometimes judges score because of styles, favorite styles more than they do because of anything pre-fight or any pre-fight considerations, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.