Johnathon Banks, the head trainer of Gennadiy Golovkin, believes his fighter is going to upset the odds this coming Saturday night, when he faces Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a trilogy fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In the first two meetings, Golovkin was trained by his longtime coach Abel Sanchez.
The first bout, in 2017, ended in a controversial twelve round split draw. The following year, Canelo won a close twelve round majority decision.
Both contests took place at middleweight, with Golovkin moving up to 168-pounds for the third encounter to challenge Canelo for the undisputed super middleweight championship.
Bank has trained Golovkin to show off a lot more than his feared punching power.
“I would like Triple G to be able to display more than one skill,” said Banks to NY Daily News. “He knows he has the punching power. I want the people to see his movement, his offense, his quickness.
“He’s a complete fighter and I’m trying to wake that guy up. In the amateurs and the Olympics, he was boxing circles around guys. That’s what ‘G’ did the first time. He just boxed him.”
Canelo has been far busier in the ring, with Golovkin – now 40-years-old – only fighting four times since their rematch.
But, Canelo is coming off his first career defeat since 2013. In May, he lost a twelve round unanimous decision to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Bank would like to see Golovkin win by knockout, but they are not going to pursue a knockout.
“I want the knockout 100 percent, but I don’t want to need the knockout to win,” Banks said. “I’ve told him, you cannot expect a victory if you back up the whole fight. I would love to keep it in the center of the ring, make it a boxing match and let’s see what happens.”