Canelo: Golovkin Pretends To Be Nice Person, And He Isn’t; Talks A Lot Of Sh!t About Me

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez’s genuine disdain for Gennadiy Golovkin has been evident every time they have come face to face in recent months.

Alvarez has made it perfectly clear that their time apart hasn’t softened his resentments toward an opponent who has repeatedly called the Mexican legend a cheat for failing two performance-enhancing drug tests before their 2018 rematch. Alvarez is that he feels Golovkin’s personality is artificial, that the Kazakh native is not the nice guy much of the boxing public perceives him to be.

“He pretends to be a good person, and [isn’t]Alvarez told a small group of reporters Wednesday at the MGM Grand. “And he talks a lot of shit about me. That is why I do not like it. He is a good fighter. He is a great fighter. That’s for sure, but as a person, I don’t think so.”

Golovkin and Alvarez will try to work out their differences in the ring again on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Their third grudge match will be contested for Alvarez’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles in the main event of a DAZN Pay-Per-View show ($64.99 for subscribers; $84.99 for non-subscribers).

Alvarez, 32, will try to bounce back from his decisive loss to Dmitry Bivol in his last fight. Bivol of Russia (20-0, 11 KOs) outpointed Alvarez to win a 12-round unanimous decision and retained his WBA light heavyweight title on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

Alvarez acknowledged that his intense dislike for Golovkin came in handy as he trained for what appears to be another tough fight with his rival.

“I kind of like it [it] because I train harder,” Alvarez said, “and I go into the fight, I feel more dangerous.”

Alvarez admits he really wants to knock out Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), who lost just a 12-round majority decision to Alvarez in their middleweight championship rematch nearly four years ago at T-Mobile Arena. The Guadalajara native stopped short of predicting a round in which he believes he will wrap up their much-anticipated matchup, but Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) feels he needs to produce a much more convincing win over Golovkin than he does. he did during his second middleweight championship match.

“I don’t know,” Alvarez said, “but my goal is to finish the fight before 12 rounds.”

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