The age-old unified middleweight champion of Kazakhstan Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) in September will have a third fight with the Mexican Saul Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) – they will fight for all the belts in the super middleweight division. The previous two fights between them ended in a draw and a minimal victory for Canelo.
WATCH THE FIGHT Canelo vs Golovkin 3 ON DAZN
On the eve of the fight, the Kazakhstani was asked if he was worried that the fight would fail after the unexpected defeat of the Mexican – in May he tried to take the WBA Super belt from the Russian light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol, but lost by decision of the judges.
“To be honest, I heard the opinions of some experts who said that our third fight is not going anywhere. So I didn’t get nervous
says veteran. How did I react to his defeat? My first reaction was: “What are you talking about? It can’t be!” Prior to the fight, promoter Eddie Hearn was pitching Canelo to everyone as some kind of invincible superhero, like Captain America or something like that. They said he’d go up to cruiserweight and all that. For me, everything just fell into place. Believe me, Canelo is a great fighter, but Bivol is also good. I even smiled at that moment, because everyone threw off the rose-colored glasses and returned to reality.
Golovkin pokes fun at Canelo’s claims that there is a personal grudge between them: “No predictions. Let’s see what kind of plan we go into battle with and what we can do. And all his talk about personal and knockout… You know, if I were him I wouldn’t be so loud, realizing that my opponent will fight in the new weight for the first time and recently exchanged his fifth decade. If I were in his place, I would have behaved more modestly. All this talk about the personal… And where have you been these four years? Why didn’t you try to find me sooner? That’s why I say that if it was personal, then the third fight would have taken place a long time ago.
On Canelo’s claims that Golovkin says a lot of nasty things about him: “I don’t remember anything like that. He constantly says that I say something wrong to him. But when exactly did I do it? And what exactly did I say? If you want to accuse someone, then be kind – present evidence. He signed a contract for a third fight, and then refused to fulfill his obligations under the contract, after which he disappeared from my radar. My age? It is clear that it affects the reaction, timing. But I never thought in the course of my career that this is my peak or that I passed it in some year.
On his debut in a new weight: “There are more cons, of course. After all, all my career I worked according to one clearly developed plan. This is both training and weight control. Now you have to make changes. What will happen after the fight with Canelo? I don’t know… Honestly, I don’t know… Bivol?.. What is he doing now? He beat Canelo. I understand everything, but you must also understand that all this is primarily a business, and not just boxing … “
In the meantime, the Mexican promises to “beat Golovkin – then I will be pleased with myself.” Yesterday Canelo named the toughest puncher of his career – and it’s not Gennady. In response, the Kazakhstani says that “Alvarez behaves like a clown.”
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