Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is wary of the threat posed by “smart” Gennady Golovkin, but plans to win their trilogy fight this weekend over 12 rounds. The Mexican, 32, puts his undisputed super middleweight crown on the line against the Kazakh, 40, in Las Vegas. Their first meeting in 2017 was a controversial draw, with Alvarez winning the rematch a year later. “I’m going to look to get the layoff,” Alvarez said. “This is as nervous as I’ve been before a match in a while.” He added: “I work best under pressure. The pressure I put on myself is to finish it within the distance. I have a tough opponent in front of me but that will be my aim on Saturday night.” Four-weight champion Alvarez – who turned pro aged just 15 – has won 57 fights, with two draws and two losses. Golovkin is the current unified middleweight champion, with these fights with Canelo the only two blemishes on his 44-fight record.

“This time it’s personal”

Alvarez-Golovkin is a four-year rematch and one of the greatest rivalries in the current era of championship boxing, with the two future Hall of Famers already having shared 24 controversial rounds in the 160lb middleweight division. This fight takes place at 168lbs (12 stone) and Alvarez weighing in at 167.4lbs with Golovkin the heaviest he has ever gone for a fight at 167.8lbs. Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, who promotes Alvarez, believes “this time it’s personal” between the two men.
“I know the undisputed championship is on the line and they really want to win it, but it’s just personal,” Hearn told the 5 live boxing podcast. “Canelo can’t stand him. Gennady Golovkin says all kinds of things to the media and rarely says it to his face. Gennady is also a bad man. He’s well respected and a good man, but believe me he has a bad side to him.” Many fans and pundits believe that Golovkin should have won their first fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas – the site of the trilogy fight – in September 2017. He appeared to land the clean shots in an all-action contest, but the judges scored it 115-113 to Golovkin, 114-114, and a highly controversial 118-110 to Alvarez. Their rivalry and war of words intensified further when the rematch was delayed after Alvarez was banned for six months for failing two drug tests, which he said were caused by eating tainted meat. Alvarez and Golovkin finally faced each other again 364 days after the first fight, at the same venue, with Alvarez putting up an amazing fight by majority decision. The winner landed the most impressive shots, Golovkin the greatest volume of punches. Hearn predicts the third fight will be “the best of the three”, adding: “The first fight was epic. Canelo Alvarez chose to do the right thing and get in the box and move. It was a very close fight. “Then he came out in the second fight and decided to go under Gennady Golovkin. The punishment they both took in those fights was unbelievable. How they both stood…”

“Back to the Path to Greatness” – Alvarez

Alvarez Says Golovkin Fight Is ‘Personal’ Alvarez became the first undisputed super middleweight champion by beating Caleb Plant in November, but is coming off a loss after losing to WBA lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol in May. “I’m really motivated to be here,” he said at Thursday’s news conference. “Obviously, the [Bivol] the loss hurt, but we’re back on the path to greatness.” Hearn says his fighter is enjoying the pressure and believes Alvarez will “bounce back” with a win. “If Canelo loses, I think he’s in a terrible position after back-to-back losses. He was number one pound-for-pound, all of a sudden, you’re probably going to put him out of the top 10 if Golovkin wins,” Hearn added. “It would be a very quick demise of that unbeatenness we thought he had in the sport. There’s a lot of pressure on him, but he’s really excited.” Since his last meeting with Golovkin, Alvarez has dominated the sport and become a pound-for-pound star, beating Sergey Kovalev and Britain’s Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders. Golovkin’s career has stagnated a bit over the past four years. He has fought just four times, compared to Alvarez’s eight. His best wins were against Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ryota Murata. He refused to make a prediction or get drawn into discussion about their past fights. “I think that’s the biggest thing for boxing right now, the biggest gift for you, the fans,” Golovkin said. “I’m feeling really comfortable. I’m feeling strong, guys. See you Saturday night.” However, his coach Jonathon Banks joked: “I have alerted the Las Vegas Police Department’s robbery unit to be on the scene at T-Mobile Arena. Hopefully they can prevent a third robbery by the judges.”