The boxing superstar speaks with Boardroom ahead of his trilogy superfight with Gennadiy Golovkin about bouncing back from defeat, who he wants next, and prolonging his incredible run.
As Saul “Canelo” Álvarez sits in Tao Downtown, a restaurant and nightclub in New York City, boxing’s undisputed middleweight (168-pound) champion of the world has no trouble elaborating on his long-running disdain for Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin.
“He talks a lot about me behind my back, and then when I showed up in front of the camera with the people he doesn’t say what he said before,” Canelo told Boardroom. “He says that I was dishonest, a farce, a cheater, and that my entire team was a shame for my country. I hate that kind of person. He’s in a very dangerous place with me right now.”
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With all that being said, Canelo Álvarez has one ending in mind to tie up any loose ends and fallacies as it pertains to the first two bouts. As he put it quite bluntly: “I want to knock him out.”
That feat would be monumental in the eyes of fight fans around the world considering that Golovkin has never been stopped (or even knocked down) in either his professional or amateur career.
“I’m always a person that uses that anger to focus and put in my favor. I know what I have to do which is train hard and do my job with greater intensity,” Canelo said. But despite the animosity, there is respect living beneath it. “He is one of the best for sure. Different fights have different styles, so it just depends.”
Before losing a light heavyweight title bout to Dmitry Bivol in May, Álvarez had won 15 of his last 16 fights, the only blemish coming from a draw with GGG in their first fight back in 2017. That loss is not weighing on Canelo, but it is a defeat he hopes to avenge after the conclusion of Saturday’s fight. “Of course, [I still think about it]. I have two fights in mind right now. The fight with [Golovkin] and Bivol after that.”
Álvarez said he rewatched the Bivol defeat two or three times and saw one of the main issues he faced was fatigue. “I learn from winning and losing but with the loss, it was things I need to change in my life,” he said.
There is no timetable as to when a potential 175-pound rematch with Bivol will take place, but signs point to sometime in 2023.
All told, Saturday’s trilogy fight signals the end of an era for Álvarez no matter the result. The undisputed super middleweight champion has remained one of the most active title-holders in boxing — the fight on Saturday will be his sixth bout in the last two years. But as he ages, maintaining health and recovering from fights has become more of a priority than it has ever been.
“It is what it is, everyone needs to adapt depending on the circumstance. This is a moment to slow down and fight twice a year,” Canelo said, noting as an aside that the increase in free time will likely be spent golfing.
Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennadiy Golvkin 3 takes place on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Las Vegas. The fight streams exclusively on DAZN in the United States, with the main card beginning at 8 p.m. ET; the main event is expected to begin at approximately 12 a.m. ET. The pay-per-view price is $64.99 for current DAZN subscribers and will cost $84.99 for new subscribers.
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