Andy Lee feels the upcoming middleweight fight between Gennady Golovkin and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on September 16th is the best match-up of the boxing year.
Golovkin is unbeaten as a professional and holds the WBA , WBC, IBF, and IBF Middleweight titles.
Meanwhile, Alvarez only has one defeat on his record and that was to Floyd Mayweather back in 2015.
Lee, who held the WBO Middleweight belt from December 2014 to the following December, joined Off The Ball to give his take on a fight that is following on from the heavyweight contest between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko which matched the hype it generated.
"This has been an incredible year for boxing already with so many of the biggest and best fights and the top fighters facing each other. But this is probably up there with the best. This is probably the best fight of the year that's been made as I can see," he said.
"Because although Joshua and Klitschko went beyond expectation and went beyond the hype, you still thought Joshua was untested and Klitschko's over the hill a little bit and Tyson Fury is still there so maybe he's the best in the division. With this there's no doubt that these are the two best fighters in the division facing off and it's for all the championship belts so when it's over, we'll have a unified middleweight champion."
Andy Lee
But how do Alvarez and Golovkin match up when it comes to their individual qualities?
"It's an interesting fight and really hard to split them," said Lee.
"Neither of these guys take a backward step. Canelo has probably better hand speed and has better counter-punching ability I would say and he throws punches in combinations. He's the younger fighter. He'll be 27 when they fight.
"I just think they're going to meet in the middle and with Canelo's counter-punching ability and his timing, he's going to give Golovkin a lot of problems. But he's also going to give him opportunities for Golovkin to land. It's like Hagler-Hearns. In my eyes it's on that level."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
