Canelo vs. Golovkin III: Is Gennadiy cashing out?

By Boxing News - 06/27/2022 - Comments

By Sam Volz: Gennadiy Golovkin is finally getting his third fight with Canelo Alvarez after waiting for what many fans view as a ‘cash-out-fight for him before he retires from the sport.

The two fighters are set to meet on September 17th in their trilogy match on DAZN pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Golovkin isn’t saying what he plans on doing after he faces Canelo for the third time, which makes boxing fans believe he’ll hang up his gloves.

If Golovkin is going to continue to fight lackluster opposition like he’s been doing until his contract with DAZN is up, it would be a disappointment for fans and likely with the streaming giant.

Moving into the future, the fights that fans want to see from Golovkin after against these boxers:

  • Jermall Charlo
  • David Benavidez
  • Jermell Charlo
  • Demetrius Andrade

Will Golovkin fight any of those guys before retiring? I think it’s fair to say that he WON’T.

Now that Golovkin has gotten his third and likely final fight with Canelo, he has no real reason not to fight any of those talented fighters because he has nothing to lose at this stage.

If Golovkin gets beaten by one of them, it won’t affect him because Canelo probably won’t ever fight him again anyway because he’s failed to keep his popularity high by fighting against elite-level opposition since 2018, and he’s not stayed active.

Golovkin has arguably been following the Gary Russell Jr. boxing style in competing once a year against B-level opponents.

Canelo doing the hard work of promoting 

Interestingly, Golovkin has chosen not to speak English during interviews in the promotion of the fight and is giving a lot of short answers to questions.

Some boxing fans feel Golovkin has chosen to do just the minimum to promote the fight and won’t go overboard to try and sell it.

Unfortunately, there’s not enough interest from boxing fans in seeing Canelo and Golovkin fight at this point in their careers for either of them to be coasting during the contest promotion.

Nevertheless, it looks like Canelo is doing the heavy lifting to create interest in the trilogy by being aggressive, animated, and trash-talking. He’s stepped out of his comfort zone to drum interest in the third match.

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After Golovkin’s loss in 2018 to Canelo, he’s stepped away from fighting risky opposition and has seemingly waited for the third payday against the Mexican star.

Who can blame Golovkin for wanting that third fight so badly? With the colossal money GGG will be making from the clash, he’ll significantly add to his net worth as a wealthy millionaire.

Golovkin not sure if he’ll stay at 168

“I don’t know yet. We’re going to try to fight at 168, and then we’ll make a decision,” said Gennadiy Golovkin to Secondsout when asked if he plans on staying at 168 to campaign at this weight after his fight with Canelo Alvarez on September 17th. “For now, we don’t know.

“Not important at all,” Golovkin said about it not being something he views as important for his legacy to defeat Canelo to become undisputed at super middleweight.

“My legacy is here. I’m not trying to achieve anything. I’m just here for the love of boxing. I’m not asking myself this question, ‘What do I want to achieve?’ I’ve already achieved a lot. Let’s see what’s going to happen.

“I’m not going to say that he waited for me to get older, but on the other hand, if he wanted that fight so much, where was he all those years?” said Golovkin when asked if Canelo intentionally aged him by waiting four years to give him a rematch after their last fight in 2018.

“Well, this fight is finally taking place finally. It’s nothing personal. It’s just another fight,” said Gennadiy about it not being personal for him in getting his trilogy match with Canelo. “I don’t think about him at all, and I don’t know what he thinks.

“I’m going to be moving in the right direction, and I hope I will succeed and prevail,” said Golovkin when asked what he’ll do during his third fight with Canelo regarding tactics.

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