By Barry Holbrook: Sergiy Derevyanchenko is already targeting Canelo Alvarez if he beats WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo in two months from now on September 26. Charlo (30-0, 22 K.O.s) and Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 K.O.s) will be fighting on Showtime pay-per-view at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville
Canelo (53-1-2, 36 K.O.s) wanted to fight Derevyanchenko next on September 12, but Sergiy chose to go in another direction. Derevyanchenko’s coach Andre Rozier preferred that he face WBC 160-lb champion Charlo rather than Canelo.
Perhaps Rozier feels that Sergiy has a better chance of winning a decision against Charlo than Canelo, who is hard to beat when he’s fighting in Las Vegas. Alvarez has a 3-0 record in controversial fights in Vegas against Gennady Golovkin x 2 and Erislandy Lara. Also, Canelo beat Austin Trout by a questionable decision in 2013 in San Antonio, Texas.
Canelo is someone that you don’t want to get into a boxing match against because he’s going to beat you with his counter-punching. Gennady Golovkin made the mistake of thinking he could beat Canelo by a decision, and it came back to haunt him.
Derevyanchenko needs to do more to beat Charlo
Against Charlo, 30, Derevyanchenko will still need to beat him conclusively, given that he’s the WBC 160lb champion. Derevyanchenko will be the B-side challenger against Charlo, and he’ll need to outwork him or score a knockout to win.
Last October, Derevyanchenko lost a controversial 12 round decision to Gennady Golovkin in New York on October 5. Looking at it from the judges’ perspective, they were likely impressed with GGG’s work rate, and the damage he did to Derevyanchenko’s face.
Additionally, Golovkin knocked Sergiy down in round one, and that factored into the judges’ rationale to give GGG the victory. If you want to beat a famous fighter like Golovkin, you must stay on your feet.
Golovkin started walking Derevyanchenko down in the second half of their fight, and he was able to land the harder shots to win over the judges. Derevyanchnko connected with many boxing punches, but you couldn’t see the damage from them the way one could from GGG’s power punches.
He had Derevyanchenko’s face looking like a bloody mess. Both of Derevyanchenko’s eyes were bruised and nearly shut by the end of the 12th round.
If Golovkin beats Canelo, thee would be a lot of
