Elite pound-for-pound fighters Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Gennadiy "Triple G" Golovkin returned to the ring on successive evenings just before Christmas with emphatic victories. But is a third fight between the duo the next step for both?
Alvarez handed Callum Smith his first professional defeat with a unanimous decision victory in San Antonio, Texas, for the WBA, WBC and The Ring super-middleweight titles. 24 hours beforehand, Golovkin made a record 21st world middleweight title defense to halt another unbeaten fighter, Kamil Szeremeta, after seven rounds of their IBF championship clash.
On DAZN's "Jabs", Chris Mannix and former WBC light-middleweight champion Sergio Mora discussed what 2021 could have in store for two of the sport's biggest stars, and agreed that if Cinco de Mayo weekend isn't headlined by GGG-Canelo III, it will probably never happen.
"It’s next or never," said Mora. "They just headlined back-to-back nights, Friday and Saturday. They both had convincing wins, and neither of them got cut or have any injuries. They could go on to May and have their trilogy, finally.
"There’s a lot of built-up animosity and disrespect there. Canelo does not like Triple G, and Golovkin has “turned heel” recently. I just think that it has to happen in May, or it’s not gonna happen at all. That’s the fight I wanna see next, give me Triple G and Canelo!
Mannix responded: "I’d like to disagree with you, but as much as I think that a Billy Joe Saunders or a Caleb Plant fight is pretty good, I do think that now is the time [for the trilogy]. It’s now-or-never.
"Golovkin looked good against Kamil Szeremeta, but if he doesn’t fight Canelo next he will have to find another opponent. And it could be an opponent that will beat him. You have to think that he will need to face a high-level guy.
"That means a Demetrius Andrade, or a Daniel Jacobs, or Jaime Munguia has been mentioned. I’m not sure Golovkin beats all those guys. Maybe Munguia, because he has more experience, but the rest of them would be tough for Golovkin at this stage of his career.
"You have to keep Golovkin on the winning train, here. He’s coming off that big win, he looked very good. Canelo also looked brilliant. Now is the time. The momentum is there."
"The Latin Snake", however, wasn't convinced that those three alternative opponents for Golovkin would happen, either.Mora said: "The Jacobs fight would have been good if he had taken care of business like he should have against Gabe Rosado, but now that’s not gonna happen. And nobody wants to face Andrade, stylistically.
"Munguia makes a lot of sense, though. That would be two trains crashing against each other, but Munguia is younger so physically I just think he’s gonna be able to take more than Golovkin and I think if we want to see the trilogy, Munguia would just take whatever’s left in Golovkin, physically, right out of him. So I think the rematch needs to happen next."
Mannix and Mora go on to discuss the possibility of Errol Spence Jr. moving across the weight classes to face Canelo, and more, in the latest episode of "Jabs" which can be viewed in full here, with a DAZN subscription.