Saunders: Aging Golovkin Has Slowed Down Due to "Drug Tests"
By Keith Idec
Billy Joe Saunders insinuated Monday that Gennady Golovkin hasn’t been as effective in his past two fights because he has been thoroughly tested for performance-enhancing drugs.
Saunders’ accusation was part of his response to a question about who would win the highly anticipated middleweight championship showdown between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on September 16. The unbeaten WBO middleweight champion made the inflammatory remarks during a press conference to promote his mandatory title defense against Georgia’s Avtandil Khurtsidze on July 8 at Copper Box Arena in London.
“I think that’s gonna be a close fight,” Saunders said of Alvarez-Golovkin. “I thought Golovkin [would win] comfortable at first, but Canelo’s got a few tricks. It all depends if Golovkin’s got a bit old, isn’t it? His last fight, let’s face it, he wasn’t the best Golovkin that we’ve seen two or three years ago. He’s slowed down a bit.
“But also, my opinion is that had something to do with having – my opinion on this – he had five drug tests. And that’s my opinion on the stuff that happens in America. So I don’t think he boxed to his best ability because it’s a fair playing field.”
The 35-year-old Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) was tested regularly by the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) throughout training camp for his 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) on March 18 at Madison Square Garden.
Golovkin dropped Jacobs during the fourth round of that fight, but Jacobs recovered to make their title fight very competitive and ended Golovkin’s 23-fight knockout streak.
A few days before beating Jacobs, Golovkin said VADA randomly tested him five times during training camp for their fight and that he welcomes such stringent testing to prove that he’s a clean fighter.
In his previous appearance, for which VADA also tested him, Golovkin had difficulty dealing with Kell Brook at times before he stopped Brook in the fifth round September 10 at O2 Arena in London.
England’s Brook (36-1, 25 KOs), who moved up two weight classes to challenge Golovkin, suffered a fractured orbital bone around his right eye during their fight. That injury caused Brook’s trainer, Dominic Ingle, to stop their fight.
Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) thought he would get an opportunity to upset Golovkin on June 10 in Golovkin’s native Kazakhstan. Their handlers had been negotiating, but Golovkin decided to bypass that middleweight title unification fight once negotiations intensified to make his lucrative, long-discussed fight against Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs).
Like all boxers from the United Kingdom, Saunders is subject to year-round random testing by UK Anti-Doping. That agency requires boxers to inform it of their whereabouts 365 days per year, so that testing can take place at any time.
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Saunders: Aging Golovkin Has Slowed Down Due to "Drug Tests" - Boxing News
when asking yourself if J Rock passed the chin test
i couldn't deal with that shyt. i do miss running in the snow/cold weather though.
shyt.
