Canelo Alvarez has fought a lot of heavy hitters during his illustrious career, but apparently one stood out above the rest.
On September 17 he faces arch rival Gennadiy Golovkin, one of the most feared punchers in boxing history, for a third time at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.
Now 31, Canelo is the current Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion while Golovkin is the current Unified Middleweight Champion and is moving up in weight for a shot at the Mexican’s titles.
After the Canelo-GGG 3 press conference in New York Alvarez was asked by Fight Hype whether his strategy would be to move forward and pressure Golovkin, much like he did in their second fight.
“When I go in there I’m looking for the knockout.”
“I’m going to be there, there, there, there [in front of Golovkin] the whole fight”
Questioned whether going straight at the Kazakh and looking for the knockout might play into his opponent’s hands, Canelo didn’t seem too bothered:
“I don’t care.”
“You want something in life you need to risk a little bit.”
He was then asked whether Golovkin was the hardest hitter he’s ever faced:
“No”
“[James] Kirkland”
“He was unbelievable. When I feel that punch right here (pointing to his arm) I go ‘Oh My God’.”
Canelo fought Kirkland back in May 2015 at Super Welterweight and finished the contest with an explosive third round finish that left the Texan lying flat on the canvas.
Alvarez will go into his next fight in September having lost to the classy Dmitry Bivol on points while challenging for the WBA Light Heavyweight title. Having shared a ring with both men he said that GGG and Bivol’s power is “the same”.
Golovkin, now 40, goes into the fight having stopped Ryota Murata to become Unified Middleweight Champion in April.