Two fights will soon become three in a rivalry that will go down in boxing history. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez faces Gennady Golovkin next Saturday, and Golovkin is looking to claim his first victory over the Mexican.
So how does he plan to do it? Speaking on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas, ‘Triple G’ says that whilst he has a strategy for the fight, what he does will largely depend on what Canelo brings to the table.
“Of course I have my plans, I have my strategy, but it is not just one boxer who decides how a fight will play out. It takes two to tango – it takes two to box. We’ll definitely see what my opponent has to offer. I’m ready for anything. If he wants to fight at close range, we’ll do that. If he wants to fight at a distance, we’ll fight at a distance. We will be ready for everything, and you will see everything in this fight. Perhaps it is possible you will even see a knockout.”
In their first fight back in 2017, ‘GGG’ out landed the Mexican in 10 out of 12 rounds according to Compubox. The judges scored it a split-draw, drew massive controversy and set events in motion for this third fight in 2022.
Golovkin, though, remains positive about the pro scoring system and the people in control of it.
“I don’t think that I will need to do a little bit more during this fight. I really hope the judges, who are professionals, will judge this fight based on the actual sport of boxing. They look at the clean shots, they look at the number of shots, and we realise that all people have their sympathies but I hope this component will play a [small] role and that the judges will do [their] best.”
Despite his diplomacy, he didn’t agree with the scorecards in Alvarez’ recent loss to Dmitry Bivol. Although the Russian took the win via unanimous decision, Golovkin feels the scorecards were still too close.
“Speaking about the judges decisions [for the Bivol fight] – 115-113 – very close, like it was a close fight. I don’t think it was fair. I don’t know what the reason for that was, [maybe] the judges could not believe that Canelo could lose. But that fight demonstrated that Canelo is not unbeatable.”
“I really hope that the judges will judge our fight without any bias – that they will be as reasonable as possible and it will be a clear, unbiased performance.”
Whatever your thoughts on the outcome of the first two fights, there’s no doubt that, should this one go 12 rounds, the boxing world will hold their breath in anticipation of the result.
Golovkin will challenge Canelo for his undisputed super middleweight titles on September 17 hosted at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. UK and US fans can tune in via DAZN PPV.