By Sean Jones: Gennadiy Golovkin believes Canelo Alvarez is out of touch with reality with the way he raised his hands in what he thought was a victory in his last fight against Dmitry Bivol last May.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) will be challenging Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) for his undisputed super middleweight title next Saturday night, September 17th on DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
As far as Golovkin is concerned, there was no question that Bivol, the WBA light heavyweight champion, defeated Canelo in that fight. He feels that Canelo thinks the world revolves around him.
Golovkin, like a lot of people, wonders why it took Canelo so long to fight him again.
On the one hand, Canelo criticizes the opposition that he’s competed against in the last four years since their rematch, and yet he’s not fighting the dangerous guys at 168 and 175.
Golovkin notes that Canelo chose not to fight David Benavidez at 168 or Artur Beterbiev at 175, which says a lot about him.
No doubt, Golovkin hasn’t been fighting the killers at 160 in the last four years, but Canelo hasn’t either, with the exception of his bout against Bivol, which he lost.
Golovkin says if he wins this fight, there could be a rematch with Canelo. If not, he says he has some other business ventures that he’ll talk about later.
With Canelo’s track record for winning controversial decisions, it’s possible that Golovkin will need to outbox him as Bivol did for him to earn a victory if he can’t knock him out.
It would have been better if the trilogy fight had been staged at a neutral venue, but Canelo is the A-side. He’s the one calling the shots for the fight, and naturally, he wasn’t going to take any chances by having the third fight with GGG staged at a neutral venue.
“Many people ask this question, and many people do not understand. I guess it’s just his position, and he’s saying, ‘You said something.’ I don’t talk about him at all,” said Gennadiy Golovkin to Clobberin’ Time when asked why Canelo Alvarez thinks he doesn’t like him.
“What I said was just facts. He likes when people say flattering things. That’s different. I think if somebody is truthful and honest, it should be taken as a compliment.
“Maybe it’s his strategy to put the blame on me and call me ‘Double-faced’ instead. I know I’m not. We all know there was a verdict by an official organization, and whatever was said was just the facts,” said Golovkin, appearing to be alluding to Canelo’s positive test for clenbuterol.
“We all know what happened, how he avoided this fight and that he went to court,” said Golovkin in reacting to Canelo saying he’s fought better opposition than him in the last four years.
“We had a rematch clause, and he still broke the contract,” said Golovkin. “If he said he had the toughest fighters if we look at those weight divisions if we look at 168, why not [David] Benavidez? If we look at 175, why not [Artur] Beterbiev?
“So, again, it’s kind of hypocritical, I would say all his craftiness, and I think we need to learn already, whatever he says, it’s not always true.
“I don’t know what he’s saying, and I don’t want to speak for him. We saw his behavior at the press conferences. We saw him raising his arms after his last fight [against Dmitry Bivol], probably believing that he won.
“It only shows that he’s out of touch with reality and that he’s revolving in his own world.
“Unifying 168 would be amazing,” said Golovkin. It motivates me more as an athlete, I would say,” said Golovkin about him potentially becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion if he defeats Canelo.
“For Canelo, like I said, delivering a loss, it would be good too, of course. To me, it’s not personal. It’s just another fight in my career. So that would be just a nice bonus.
“At the same time, if we look at his last fight, Bivol won, and it did not change Bivol much. It was just a big bonus for Bivol winning that fight.
“I’m really happy about how I feel right now. I feel great, and that’s part of my career. To train hard to deliver everything I have in me to be as dedicated as possible.
“The only difference would be probably how I approach for this and how I mage it,” said Golovkin about him going from 160 to 168 for the Canelo trilogy.
“For me to make 160, that wasn’t easy at times too. I would wear a weight-burning suit for a couple of days to lose extra water. This time around probably, it probably doesn’t need to be done.
“The last two or three days will probably be different. Well, no excuses this time around. I’m actually very happy with those fights [Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Gabriel Rosato] despite how I felt back then, and I’m happy with the outcome.
“It was victories both times, and at the same time, I don’t want to make any excuses. I’m happy with the way I feel now. I’m working in accordance with our plan. There are certain nuances, of course, but overall, I’m very happy with my current condition.
“First of all, I don’t want to belittle our first two fights [with Canelo]. They were both exciting, fascinating fights, and they went into history and such.
“I hope our third fight will go into history as an exciting fight, and at the same time, the third fight should not erase the first two, the outcome, and the actual fights.
“Of course, I hope I’ll win the third fight, and the judges will not be able to affect the situation. I hope the judges will be honest and fair. I can only hope. So, we’ll see how it’s going to go.
“I wouldn’t compare the Marquez-Pacquiao rivalry and ours. The only thing that would be similar is those were great fights that went into history. I hope our fights, all fights, will be great and be as historic as those.
“It’s hard for me to say. I don’t know what he does during training right now. I don’t know how he feels,” said Golovkin when told that Canelo’s punch output has been steadily dropping in his last handful of fights.
“I would say 175 was probably a difficult weight category for him, and his training approach had certain errors that led to that results. It’s a question to him. What excuses is he going to find, and how he’s going to wriggle out of this for this time around?
“Numbers speak for themselves. Speaking about our fights, this weight category is more comfortable for him, and plus, he believes it’s personal. I would say, and it’s for both of us, we’re going to step on the throttle all the way and just go into it.
“I think I’ve had an excellent career. I’ve had a lot of achievements, and I’m very happy with my legacy,” said Golovkin when told if he plans on retiring after the Canelo trilogy.
“I’m in the Guinness book of records for the biggest number of knockouts in the middleweight division, snd the most number of title defenses. I have some plans, good plans, interesting plans after this fight.
“Let’s discuss them after because this fight, there could be s rematch or something. This question is for later,” said Golovkin.
