Ahead of Saturday’s trilogy fight against rival Gennadiy Golovkin, Mexican superstar Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez reveals the root of the animosity between them and says the fight almost happened in 2019, writes Elliot Worsell
There comes a time in the career of every great boxer when it is no longer enough to fight for titles alone, or against the best opponents, or even for more money. At that stage, if history is anything to go by, a great fighter needs more than one fight to generate the required motivation, and often in pursuit of it, he will create some sort of needle with an opponent to light a spark. . sleeping part of them to life.
In the case of Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, it seems that this is precisely what he is doing in 2022 against Gennadiy Golovkin, a man with whom he has been linked for a long time. The two, admittedly, have history, one rooted in controversy, yet it seems like a stretch to call them bitter rivals, or sworn enemies, or any other version of the same theme. Both, historically, are respectful fighters, with Golovkin, in particular, never engaging in trash talk with an opponent, raising his voice, speaking out of line, or offering anything remotely controversial before a fight.
Somehow, however, before what will be the pair’s third meeting, Golovkin has been accused of being a fraud by Álvarez, and for that, Álvarez says, he intends to teach the Kazakh a lesson on Saturday night. (September 17) in Las Vegas. .
“I just want to punish him very hard,” he said today (September 14) inside the MGM Grand. “That’s the only thing on my mind. And I’m very close to doing it.
“He pretends to be a good person but he is not. She talked a lot of nonsense about me, and that’s why I don’t like her. He is a good fighter, a great fighter, that’s for sure. But as a person, I don’t think so.”
Canelo’s need to make an opponent’s enemy is nothing new, of course, especially of late. Just last year, in fact, he found himself going back and forth with Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant, before stopping them both at a distance.
“I like it,” he said of talking trash. “I train harder. I go into the fight feeling more dangerous.”
Aside from a bit of a needle that brings out Alvarez’s dangerous side, there’s every chance a loss in May against Dmitry Bivol will have a similar impact on the Mexican this Saturday night. After all, coming off a loss, he is now in a regular position and will presumably be eager against Golovkin, at super middleweight, to repair any damage done to his reputation during their brief dalliance at light heavyweight.
“Nobody wants to lose and I felt a lot of pain,” he admitted. “I love what I do and I didn’t want to lose. But it is what it is. You have to keep going and keep fighting. This is life. It has made me hungrier and more dangerous now.
“If you think about the first time I fought at 160 (pounds), it was against him (Golovkin), and I went up. I have more experience now and I am confident in what I am doing.”
Much has certainly changed in the five years since Alvarez and Golovkin first met in 2017. Since then, Canelo, 57-2-2 (39), has cycled through the weights, moving up and down depending on the challenge. featured, while Golovkin, a career middleweight, has continued to campaign at 160 pounds, and Saturday night represents his first excursion north of that.
However, no matter the difference in weight, and no matter how dramatically their earning potential has differed of late, the interest in Alvarez and Golovkin sharing a ring has never really waned.
“We had two very good fights and now we have this, the third fight,” Alvarez said. “It is very important to me, my country and my legacy. Everybody thinks differently when a close fight happens. People think maybe I lost, or maybe I won. That means it’s a close fight. It means I need to win this third fight convincingly.
“Of the three fights, I think this will be the most important. Also, the fact that he goes into this fight thinking it could be his last makes him even more dangerous. But I’m also going to leave everything inside the ring.”
Golovkin will deny that he goes into Saturday’s fight thinking it’s his last, but, clearly, at 40 years of age, he no longer has time on his side. In fact, if there’s perhaps one knock against Alvarez, 32, heading into this trilogy fight, it’s that he didn’t put in more of an effort to get through this one when Golovkin was still in his mid-30s, surely something easy. do given Golovkin’s longstanding desire for revenge and, apparently, Alvarez’s dislike for the middleweight champion.
“You don’t know, but in 2019, before Covid came, we almost closed the fight,” Álvarez revealed. “Then Covid came along and I started fighting in other weight classes and winning titles in other weight classes. Now we did this deal with DAZN and Eddie Hearn and I’m happy.
“After the second fight, I thought it was all over. But DAZN really wanted this fight. We did the fight in 2019 but Covid came and everything was cancelled. But I’m happy to have this fight because everyone wants to see this fight.”
Their respective talents and achievements are so great that few will dispute it, even now. However, for Canelo Alvarez to truly break away from Golovkin, his number one rival, once and for all, he must defeat him in a way he hasn’t yet. In other words, he must secure a conclusive victory against a man who, to date, has never been conclusively defeated as a professional.
“My goal is to finish the fight before the end of 12 rounds,” Canelo said. “Obviously I go into every fight with that goal and this one is no exception. This has gotten personal, so I could go further, but I’m 100 percent ready for this fight and I’ve prepared that way. From the first round I will be looking for the stoppage.”
