Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, two fighters whose names became synonymous with each other during their two fights in 2017 and 2018, are making their return to the ring today and tomorrow. Both fighters will be fighting for the first time in 2020. Golovkin will defend his IBF middleweight title when he takes on the 21-0 Polish boxer Kamil Szeremeta today, while Alverez will take on 27-0 English boxer Callum Smith in a fight that sees three titles up for grabs on Saturday.
Golovkin’s fight against Szeremeta is a mandatory fight, meaning if he were to refuse to fight he would be forced to vacate his IBF middleweight title. While Szeremeta’s 21-0 record may appear to make this a great matchup, many are questioning whether or not he deserves to be fighting for a title. Yes, he is undefeated. However, only 5 of Szeremeta’s 21 victories have come by way of knockout and there have been questions about the quality of his opponents. While it is clear that the 38-year-old Golovkin has been on the decline since his brutal knockout of Kell Brook in 2016, having a draw and a loss to Canelo Alvarez on his record, most fight analysts feel that Golovkin will win this fight comfortably. Golovkin is coming into the fight with a 40-1-1 record with 35 of those 40 wins coming by way of knockout. It’s safe to say that if Szeremeta is able to beat Golovkin it would be a massive upset and potentially a career ending loss for the champ.
While Golovkin will be defending his title, Canelo Alvarez will be attempting to claim several. On Saturday, December 19, Alvarez will take on Callum Smith, the current WBA super middleweight champion and The Ring super middleweight champion. Also on the line is the vacant WBC super middle weight title. Canelo Alvarez, who comes into the bout with a record of 53-1-2, is no stranger to championship fights. He made history in his last fight when he defeated Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight title and became a four-division champion. Despite the fact that Smith is coming into the fight as the champion he is the underdog in this scenario. If he were to beat Alvarez, who many regard as the best pound for pound boxer in the world, it would a big upset.
However, just because Smith is the underdog does not mean he is a slouch. Smith brings a 7-inch height advantage over Alvarez and while his two title defenses have not been extremely impressive, he is still a champion. Smith also has experience with Alvarez as he was present when his brother, Liam Smith, lost his WBO junior middleweight championship to Alvarez in 2016. While Smith has admitted that he did not perform well in his title defenses, he seems to have embraced the opportunity to fight Alvarez. This fight will, no doubt, be the biggest fight in Smith’s career.
While neither of these upcoming bouts are the final Golovkin Alvarez trilogy fight that most fight fans have been wanting, it will be nice to see two of the best in the business back in the ring. Both fights will be streamed live on DAZN and will be available in over 200 countries. The Golovkin vs. Szeremeta card will begin today at 5:00pm ET and the Alvarez vs. Smith card will begin on Saturday at 8:00pm ET.
My predictions:
Golovkin vs. Szeremeta: Golovkin wins by KO in round 4.
Alvarez vs. Smith: Alvarez wins by TKO in round 9.
The Contender 