Supremacy Undercard Preview & Canelo vs Golovkin Prediction

RANDY CABALLERO vs DIEGO DE LA HOYA
(10 rounds Super Bantamweights)
I find it somewhat odd that Eric Gomez stated: “Diego is related to Oscar [De La Hoya]. But in many ways Caballero is like a son to us.” Poor Diego -- I wonder exactly what his transgressions consisted of. This fight smacks of a lesson doled. Caballero (24-0, 14KO) pointed to his own experiences, including his once-held IBF Bantamweight strap. Thus reasoned aloud there is no way Oscar's cousin wins. Diego (19-0, 9KO) in turn voiced his plans to steal the show. he'll have to, because it ain't his. Many are seeing it as 50/50. I got it 60/40 Caballero.

JOSEPH DIAZ, JR vs RAFAEL RIVERA

(12 rounds Featherweights)

Rivera (25-0-2, 16KO) stepped in on a week-or-so notice whenst Jorge Lara pulled out under some suspicion. Diaz (24-0, 13 KO) now hath a dance partner for this WBC Eliminator bout -- one with an equal record. Too one whom scraps on short notice and owns a pair a' draws. Tough.

RYAN MARTIN (19-0, 11KO) vs FRANCISCO ROJO (20-2, 13KO)

(10 rounds Super Lightweights)

Uh. I pick not the fella with two losses?

Obviously, Supremacy's main event, Canelo vs Golvkin, is being banked on heavily by this promotion, and rightfully-so. Here's how I see the perchance and mayhaps fight of the year unfurling:

Lettuce begin fully now, with the task at hand with a glimpse at the tale of the tape re: Canelo - GGG

AGE: Golovkin 35, Alvarez 27
HEIGHT: Golovkin 5'10, Alvarez 5'9
REACH: Golovkin 74", Alvarez 71"
WINS: Golovkin 37, Alvarez 49
LOSSES: Golovkin 0, Alvarez 1
DRAWS: Golovkin 0, Alvarez 1
KNOCK-OUTS: Golovkin 33, Alvarez 34

In ring and generally speaking it's a fight that has the makings of one a' them just add water instant classics maybe even to the tune of living up to but not replicating Leonard/Hearns. The players here are several ticks different. Golovkin, juggernauting ahead in a constant nigh lost art of shifting, working behind the powerful jab and hooks which that breeds and entails. As devastating as that may read, doth it play directly into Canelo's alabaster hands? As the Chavez fight most recently bore out (with an emphasis on bore), Canelo wants his adversary coming at him, leather flying. He all but begged Chavez to do so -- he needs to counter. But countering comes at a hard and high cost in terms of Golovkin.

Back to the GGG shift: each hand is dyn-O-mite and he is deceptively hard to hit. The shift of Marciano completely fooled Archie Moore, who thought he'd be easy to tag by watching film. Instead, he was backed into the ropes time and again whist waiting for countering opportunities. Angles. Even when the opportunity came, Marciano was in position to slip and duck. Moore was open to further blows. All that stated, Chavez didn’t come forward all that much. And there he stood at the final bell. Losing each round, but standing nonetheless. Can we see an adjustment to G’s modus operandi come September?

GGG ain't no one-dimensional James Kirkland as in Canelo/Kirkland. We can say this regarding what we know, let alone what we don’t know, about GGG. Let me be clear. Word from his camps and sparring partners is not limited to what Chavez Jr had to say… others too, line up to sing their oft baffled/awed praises. A popular notion: we have not publicly seen all that Golovkin can do. He has hidden depths. Hidden depths that have yet to be forced into use by his opponents to date.

Allow me here to slow my roll and offer up the lead up to this long awaited bout. From The Sun a whiles back: "Fresh from his sensational sixth-round demolition of Amir Khan at the start of May, the Mexican has dropped his green WBC strap. And the World Boxing Council have decided to hand the belt to unbeaten Kazakh star GGG." The biggest bugaboo of a hiccup in making this bit of fisticuffs a reality was weight. Golovkin fights at 160 pounds, while Canelo has primarily fought at 154 and 155 pounds. We can thank the proving ground of Chavez, Jr. for showing Team Canelo that he can fight at a larger weight. Obstacle removed. Both pugs had their bouts in the interim. Golovkin battled Mr. Daniel Jacobs in March, going the distance in the closest unanimous-decision victory ya ever will see. Though Jacobs is a larger human being than is Canelo. Each lead-up is flawed, see?

And now we are here. There. September.

Canelo sets traps better than anyone else in the biz. He hits more feathery than Jacobs but too has more punches. That might thwart GGG’s shifting advances. But what if again -- Golovkin don’t go there? Kell Brook stood up G, too. Danny Jacobs ain’t no Canelo. I am muddying up the waters. "It is clear as mud, but it covered the ground, and the confusion made me brain go 'round." Harry Belafonte.

I shall make with the goods now, gentlepersons in the form of my prediction; one I ain't married to just yet. For the time being, we're living in sin to see how compatible we are. No sense runnin' to the altar. Golovkin comes out jabbing, boxing, changing it up. Canelo holds his own countering off his back foot. Then GGG drops the hammer at midpoint. He employs his bullying shift only to realize he’s tired a bit from that opening. Canelo sets traps working on slow feet, but too excellent balance and little energy expenditures. This pushing doth wear Canelo out, though. GGG hurts him to the challah-basket, then jumps to another ploy -- because Canelo is somewhat making him eat leather via counter punching. Not so much hurting him, but scoring. Ninth stanza. That is when the heavens doth do open up and birds pause their flights in midair. Golovkin goes back to boxing. Sorta. Each are tired, but only Canelo has been hurt. What golovkin does is become a better version of Kovalev's boxer puncher; or to be more apt puncher boxer. This exploits fully the slow and tick then weary feet of Canelo. The counters fade away, dial further and further back. Then, it's GGG by stoppage in the championship rounds. We need a rematch. Two years later, Saul avenges his loss via unanimous-decision against an over-the-hill Gennady. But that, gentlepersons, is a long and meandering walk from wherest we stand.

[The pre-ceding pre-diction was an excerpt from THIS post.]

LISTEN to me talk about this and more: 

"We're Going Streaking!" Kaplowitz Radio: September 13, 2017