Golovkin: Canelo Didn’t Take Bivol Seriously; Loss Kind Of Brought Him Back To Earth

LAS VEGAS – Saul Alvarez assured cynics Tuesday that he has taken his third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin very seriously.

Alvarez’s rival is 40 years old and will make his 168-pound debut on Saturday night, but the Mexican superstar’s previous experiences against Golovkin remind him that this will be another tough fight. Kazakhstan’s Golovkin doesn’t think Alvarez took a comparable approach in his last fight.

Golovkin said Tuesday during an interview with a small group of reporters at the MGM Grand that an overconfident Alvarez overlooked the undefeated Bivol before meeting May 7 at T-Mobile Arena, where Golovkin and Alvarez will also meet for the third time. time.

“We all saw how he behaved, what he said about his possible fights with Usyk, Makabu, with heavyweight fights,” Golovkin said through a translator. “And even now, he continues to say that he is ready to take on any challenge, that he is not afraid. He maybe he just wants to save face. But at the same time, we see that what he said during the press conferences showed that he did not take Dmitry Bivol and that fight seriously. So I think he drew his conclusions that this loss brought him back to Earth. And as a result, he will change.”

Alvarez de Guadalajara (57-2-2, 39 KOs) had not lost since Floyd Mayweather outpointed him in September 2013 before Bivol unanimously beat him in their 12-round, 175-pound championship fight. Alvarez closed out as the least 4-1 favorite, but Bivol completely outclassed the four-division champion in a fight that didn’t appear as close as the 115-113 scores submitted by judges Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld indicated. .

The outcome of the Alvarez-Bivol fight didn’t surprise Golovkin, but he was surprised by Alvarez’s earlier talk of possibly moving up to heavyweight to challenge champion Oleksandr Usyk for his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts or to cruiserweight for a fight against WBC champion Ilunga Makabu. That’s when Golovkin realized that Alvarez, who was the consensus pound-for-pound king of boxing at the time, underestimated Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).

Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) never mentioned moving past the super middleweight limit where he will meet Alvarez in their DAZN Pay-Per-View main event on Saturday night ($64.99 for subscribers). ; $84.99 for non-subscribers).

“He probably lost touch with reality,” Golovkin said, “and believed he was invincible.”

Although his two middleweight title fights were highly competitive, the handicappers have installed the 32-year-old Alvarez as at least a 5-1 favorite to beat Golovkin in their 12-round fight for the 168-pound crowns of the Alvarez’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO. .

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.