By Huck Allen: Canelo Alvarez is upset about his loss to Dmitry Bivol and he’s going to take his frustration out on Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
What we’re going to see in the Canelo-Golovkin III trilogy fight is Canelo using his displaced anger on Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), who isn’t the primary target but he’ll pay the price anyway.
The circumstances preclude Canelo from fighting Bivol in an immediate rematch, so he’ll take his anger out on the weaker target, the 40-year-old Golovkin.
We don’t know whether Canelo will ever rematch Bivol because he proved to be too powerful & talented to attack without a fierce counterattack. If Canelo loses to Golovkin, we can forget about a rematch with Bivol.
Canelo really wound up
“With Canelo having had that decision, and I would say most people felt went the wrong way, and having the cultural Mexican style having been put on GGG, it would seem like in the second fight, he [Alvarez] came to prove he could fight style,” said Radio Rahim to Secondsout.
“He [Canelo] would stay in the middle of the ring and they would exchange, and then even yet, GGG all of a sudden has a jab and is a little bit on the back foot, and yet again, some people would have been okay with a draw. It was 50-50 on both sides.
“Half of the people think Canelo and half the people think GGG. So there’s still no satisfaction for Canelo, even having two fights that he wins on paper. This time around, what do you feel Canelo still has to prove. He seems really wound up about this one,” said Rahim.
“I don’t think he has to prove anything in his career with his resume, but this is more personal, not in terms of resume, but in terms of what he wants to do to GGG,” said Eddie Hearn.
“He [Canelo] was quite open in the roundtable. ‘I want to retire him. I want to stand over him when he’s knocked out with satisfaction.’ That’s his words.
“So that’s what he feels going into this fight. I don’t think this is about winning the third fight and proving anyone right or wrong. That’s about his bad intentions towards him,” Hearn said about Canelo wanting to knock out Golovkin for personal satisfaction.
“He genuinely wants to hurt this guy. He genuinely wants to knock him out, and that’s the only thing he’s interested in. This fight will be a firefight because Canelo Alvarez will come out, as he did in the second fight Mexican style, and take it to Gennadiy Golovkin,” said Hearn.
Golovkin won’t back off
“Gennady is not going to take a backward step,” Hearn said. “Both guys will try to go for the knockout in this fight. In my opinion, there is no chance this fight goes 12 rounds this time because I think there are too much bad intentions on Canelo’s side.
“He will not be happy with a points victory, certainly not a contentious one. He wants to win this fight inside the distance, so I think you’re going to get a very fight this time around.
“To be honest with you, I think the 168 pounds will really suit Gennadiy Golovkin. He’s been at 160 for so long. In the [Ryota] Murata fight, you could see as you get older, as you continue to make that weight, it’s more and more of a struggle.
“I think he’s actually going to be a lot bigger & stronger himself at 168,” Hearn said about Golovkin. “It’ll give him some durability because we know how tough he is.
“It might even make him a little bit more robust against what will be a vicious onslaught from Canelo Alvarez,” said Hearn.
Canelo can never win
“Being at 40 years of age and having a little weight padding to fill out your grown man size doesn’t hurt,” said Rahim about Gennadiy. “The mentality of Canelo.
“This kind of reminds me of a Marquez-Pacquiao where there’s these long stories of fights where one guy [Juan Manuel Marquez] feels like he’s been denied what he should have deserved in the ring and the career that he could have had.
“It’s like a stone in Canelo’s shoe. He hasn’t really proven, at least to most fight fans. Yes, the rest of his career, without question, but the GGG question remains unanswered,” said Rahim.
“You can never win, really,” said Hearn about Canelo being in a no-win situation going into the trilogy match with 40-year-old Golovkin. “If he wins this fight by knockout, people will say, ‘Oh yeah, it was three years on or whatever it was.’
“But ultimately, I don’t think he’s [Canelo] ever out to prove to anyone how good he is. I think this is more about himself. I’ve never seen him like this before.
“Even in the [Billy Joe] Saunders where Saunders was actually provoking him and saying bad stuff to his face. He was quite calm. Here when we were in Los Angeles, we came straight up to the head-to-head, and the line was there straight over.
“I’ve never seen him do that before, and he hates people talking, what he would say, s*** about him. He takes it very personal what Gennady said. But I would still like to see Gennadiy say up there,” said Hearn.
“What has Canelo said about Gennadiy behind closed doors?” said Rahim.
Canelo to take out his frustration
“He wants to punish him, he wants to destroy him, and wants to end his career on September 17th,” said Hearn.
“You know as well as any that boxing is a young man’s sport. 40 years is not something that we can just disregard,” said Rahim about Golovkin’s age.
“What do you think GGG, having seen what you’ve seen since the first fight to now, can bring to the third fight that can make a decisive decision?” said Rahim.
“A decisive decision is going to be difficult against Canelo Alvarez,” said Hearn. “The defeat against [Dmitry] Bivol is an interesting dynamic. He’s [Canelo] coming off a defeat, only the second one in his career.
“The last one was a long time ago against Floyd Mayweather. Canelo Alvarez has to bounce back, and there will be some who will say maybe he’s emotionally or physically a little bit more frail than he would be if he beat Dmitry Bivol in that fight, and I agree.
“There will be others that will say, ‘He’s more motivated and more vicious to put in a performance than ever.’ I also agree. So there are a lot of unknowns about what you’re going to get in this fight emotionally, and mentally.
“I think he’s going to try to take out the defeat of Dmitry Bivol on Gennadiy Golovkin. There was something about Gennadiy Golovkin, it was like staying calm was almost a mind game to say, ‘I’m going to let you get rattled here,’ but I’m fine. It’s just sport for me.’
“Deep down, Canelo knows, ‘You don’t like me. Say it. I want him to say it.’ The more he [Canelo] prods him, I think the more refined Gennady Golovkin will be. ‘I’m fine, I’ll see you there. I’ll let you lose your temper, not me.’
“But we also know Gennady Golovkin is a vicious, vicious man, and he’ll be wanting to do the damage on Canelo Alvarez,” said Hearn.
