IBF / WBA Super middleweight title holder (up to 72.6 kg) Kazakhstani Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs)
answered to questions from journalists at a meeting with international media on the eve of the third fight against the absolute champion of the second middleweight (up to 76.2 kg) Mexican Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), which will be held on September 17 in Las Vegas (USA) .
Gennady commented on Alvarez’s consent to the third fight long after the rematch, spoke about the new weight for himself and in one of his answers he taunted the Matchroom promotion company for their one-sided position in choosing the favorite of Saturday’s fight.
vRING Preview: Golovkin – Canelo Alvarez 3. Big drama
Canelo says this fight is personal to him. But if it was personal, he would have fought you 3 years ago. Do you think that he was just waiting for you to turn 40, thinking that you would get old?
He himself can say that this is for him. It would be wrong for me to speak for him at all. I’ll tell you how I understand it all from the outside. Here is the last fight on DAZN, the last fight under the contract, that is, a lot of time has passed, that is, the situation in which I am lately and how it all happens. That is, it all adds up, and now after that, 4 years later, these accusations appear – I will knock out, I will end his career. How will he end my career? Who is he to start or end my career? This is personal… all this in the aggregate is the bonus by which he wants to elevate himself. He’s not at the age or in the position to make such a statement at all. If he wanted something or it was personal, he would have done it right away. It’s been a long time. This is wrong on his part.
– Canelo said that he almost signed a contract for a third fight with you in 2019. Is that true, from your memory, or do you think he avoided you, biding his time?
– Almost, completely, slightly, or lost a pen … Well, that’s not true. Don’t really pay attention to what he says.
Do you agree that Canelo now has something to lose? He needs to defend the belts, he needs to prove that they are judged objectively. And aren’t you tired of all this hype? You are constantly asked the same questions about him.
“I don’t think the pressure has any effect on us. We are both athletes and we know what we need to do. We need to do our job – and whoever does it better, whoever makes fewer mistakes in his work, I think, will win. Hype is an integral part of this show business. That is, everyone promotes himself as best he can.
- Saul Alvarez – Gennady Golovkin: forecast and bets for the fight on September 18
You have been at the same weight for a long time. Now you have gained more weight. People say it’s good for Canelo. Do you think this will help you? Maybe it will be easier for you to do weight?
“There is definitely a weight difference. How we feel, how we feel. But no matter what weight Canelo and I fight, we would both be in the same situation, in the same ring, and there would be the same rules for both of us. So plus or minus we are in the same situation. Yes, I’ll say it a little differently. This is my first time at 76.2 kg I’m fighting in a professional ring. I felt great at 72.6 kg, but again, we agreed at 76.2 kg – no excuses.
You fought him twice and I’m surprised how many people underestimate you now because you know how to fight him, his style and everything. How do you feel that there will be no surprises?
“You know, we know each other very well. We both understand that this is a very difficult fight for us. As I understand it, who Mike Coppinger communicates with is the whole Matchroom. I would advise not to communicate only with Matchroom.
— [смеются]
“Remember what Floyd said: “You don’t understand boxing. You don’t fully understand boxing.”