Gennadiy Golovkin is expecting a different Canelo Alvarez.
Perhaps no two fighters know each other better inside the ring than Alvarez (57-2) and Golovkin (42-1), who are set to face off in their trilogy fight on Sept. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two legends previously squared off in 2017 and ’18 in two of boxing’s biggest-ever bouts after anticipation grew through much of their careers, which saw them both become multiple-belt champions and reside atop the pound-for-pound rankings. The two fights – surrounded by scoring controversies – resulted in a draw and an Alvarez majority decision, respectively, prompting arguably the sport’s most divisive and bitter rivalries.
This time around, however, the 32-year-old Alvarez enters the bout coming off a loss to Dmitry Bivol, his first defeat since 2013 to Floyd Mayweather. It injected a dose of reality into the career of Alvarez, who had moved up to light heavyweight in an attempt to win a title in yet another division – a size he is likely not equipped for.
“I’ve known Canelo for a long time, and I’ve always known that it was possible, and Dmitri Bivol just showed us that,” the Kazakhstani Golovkin told The Post through an interpreter. “Some experts were under the illusion that Canelo was unbeatable, I never shared that opinion. That loss kind of brought the situation back to reality, back to the actual state of things.
“I think that he will draw conclusions as a result of his loss. He will take our fight much more seriously, much more realistically, and that will be a totally different fight, compared with his fight against Bivol.”
The resentment between the two fighters has only grown throughout their careers.
In coming off a loss, and facing adversity he’d long avoided inside the ring, Alvarez’s public demeanor has noticeably changed and grown more combative. There’s been seemingly even more vitriol at the Mexican star’s introductory press conferences with Golovkin, with Alvarez growing more personal in his attacks and comments.
“I cannot speak for him, his behavior, I think it just shows his true face,” Golovkin said. “The way he was probably brought up and the level of toxicity around him, toxic people that are in his camp.”
Since his defeat to Alvarez, Golovkin has won all four of his fights easily, ending three of them early by stoppage and reclaiming, then defending, his IBF, IBO and WBA middleweight titles. He’s moved on, he promises, from the decisions in the first two Alvarez fights and all the controversy it sparked, and isn’t carrying any skepticism about judging for the third fight.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t still think he was robbed, however.
“I’ll be honest with you, I moved on the next day,” Golovkin said. “I haven’t thought about it much. I realized that those people who gave those scores, they were used. They were used like disposable tissues are being used. It was time to use them, they were used and disposed off.”
At 40 years old, it will be a different Golovkin inside the ring as well. For the first time in his career, he is moving up from middleweight to super middleweight for the bout, where all four of Alvarez’s undisputed titles will be on the line. Golovkin, despite long being unified middleweight champion, has never been an undisputed champion.
The change this late into his career demonstrates the legendary “ambition” and “craziness” inside him he claims he must respond to, proving he is willing to do whatever is necessary to capture this long-awaited signature win.
“Titles themselves are not as important,” Golovkin said. “It might sound like I’m being hypocritical here, but not really. The victory is much more important. The titles that might be coming by way, as a result of this victory, are considered by me as a bonus.”
