Canelo: I’m looking for the knockout

By Miguel Maravilla

Mexican superstar undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KO’s) renews his rivalry with former middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KO’s) of Kazakhstan. Canelo faces GGG on Saturday September 17 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas live on DAZN.

“Here we are ready for this fight and renewing this rivalry” Canelo told Fightnews.com®. “The truth is, I’m more motivated and dangerous. After the defeat, I am very motivated and that makes me a more dangerous fighter,”

It will be nearly four years the last time Canelo shared the ring with Golovkin as they met in September of 2018. Fighting a total of 24 rounds, as the first fight was a draw and Canelo pulled off a split decision taking the 1-0-1 advantage in the rivalry.

“I beat him, and I always think of that,” Canelo on the last fight. “He will be surprised on how I’ve improved since the last fight,” Canelo added.

Following their last fight, Canelo moved up to super middleweight to conquer all the champions in the division and unifying. Piling up wins over WBA champion Rocky Fielding, defending against Daniel Jacobs, a knockout over Sergey Kovalev, WBC champion Callum Smith, Avni Yildrim, WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, and IBF champion Caleb Plant in becoming undisputed at super middleweight.

“I am trying to fight for my legacy. I am competitive and along the way there will be adversity and obstacles, but it doesn’t mean that it will stop me from my objective to be great. You win, you lose. The best-case scenario is to get back up.”

Daring to be great, Canelo moved up to the 175-pound light heavyweight division as he was on the losing end of a decision to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in his last fight. A fight in which Canelo never really got off as Bivol jab and work rate proved to be too much.

“I really don’t want to make any excuses. I simply got tired as the fight grew. A lot of things happened, and I accept the defeat. I feel proud. Every fight is for my legacy,” Canelo on his defeat to Bivol. “It’s important for me comeback. I have a strong mind to keep moving forward. I want to be one of the greatest fighters in history,”

Canelo’s trainer Eddie Reynoso talked about the defeat. “You win some and you lose some in boxing. With Oscar Valdez we loss to one of the best, with Canelo it was a fight we shouldn’t have loss we were looking to make history but that’s boxing.”

Now Canelo goes back down from light heavyweight to super middleweight to defend his WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF, & Ring Magazine undisputed titles against GGG.

“I still feel I’m the best and I am the undisputed champion in my weight division,” Canelo on his status at super middleweight.

For Golovkin, he parted ways with his previous trainer Abel Sanchez making room for his replacement new trainer and former heavyweight contender Jonathan Banks. Since his last fight with Canelo and hooking up with Banks, Golovkin has fought three times, scoring a knockout over Steve Rolls, winning a hard-fought decision over Sergey Derevyanchenko in picking up the vacant IBF middleweight title, a knockout over Kamil Szremeta, and is coming a knockout over Japan’s Ryota Murata.

There’s no question that Golovkin has become Canelo’s biggest rival of his career. A mutual respect that began nearly ten years ago when the two sparred as young champions. Since then, plus two fights later the rivalry has taken its turn.

“I feel more motivated. I want to get back in the ring with this guy Golovkin he is talking shit,” Canelo stated. “I need to fight Golovkin. I am looking for a knockout,”

Alvarez did not hold back as he strongly criticized Golovkin at the roundtable prior to the kickoff press conference in Hollywood. During the press conference, Canelo also expressed his feelings and animosity, intensifying the rivalry.

“He said I was scared, and he’s the one fighting D class fighters. He is talking too much that’s why its personal for me. He always pretends to be a nice guy here in front of you guys, but he’s an asshole,” Canelo said. “He knows what I think about him. I hope he feels the same way,”

Off to New York for the next press conference, Canelo and his team will begin the preparation led by head trainer Eddie Reynoso in San Diego for the third chapter of his rivalry with Golovkin.

“He must work hard for this fight. He knows him and they know each other. I think it will be more complicated,” Eddie Reynoso said.

Following the defeat to Bivol, Canelo faced extreme criticism as the fight with Golovkin was in question. Despite the defeat, Canelo knows he still has a chapter to close in his rivalry with Golovkin. It’s a road back to redemption as he vows to take out Golovkin.

“You can’t satisfy everyone, the public opinion, and honestly I never cared what people say,” Canelo on the criticism. “A knockout is what I see. I will be the last guy he (Golovkin) faces. It will be satisfying,” Canelo concluded.

Follow Miguel on Twitter @MigMaravilla

JAPAN UPDATE
Golovkin: There is nothing personal

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  • Hats off to ggg for daring to move up in weight to fight a much bigger and younger undisputed champion.

    • Well, GOLOVKIN was a boxer-puncher who was great when young. At 40 years of age, he is way past his prime. His last fight against Ryota Murata, where he looked vulnerable and slow, is a testament to getting old. The amount $ the Kazakhstani professional boxer will receive is considerably high, but he could get hurt. God, please, protect GOLOVKIN!

  • Canelo looking to redeem himself since he was battered up fighting the Russian Bivol. Now, he shifts gears and picks on someone he feels is older, slightly slower, and aging. Pretty easy to figure out Canelo’s plans. I do feel GGG has lost some of his momentum due to his advancing age. I feel Canelo has the upper hand this time since youth and a higher frequency of fighting is on his side. I do like GGG, but he’s on borrowed time since his aging.

    • Scoobs, “battered up”? He just got outboxed, i hardly believe he was “battered up”. GGG getting one last big payday before his farewell song.

      • I don’t know, friend. When you get completely outboxed by a fighter who is naturally bigger and has some snap, there’s some battering going on. Mental battering too, from Canelo’s expressions. This is a good fight for Canelo to get his edge back. But, GGG could put a damper on that should he pull out the wily old guy card that we see once in awhile. We’ll see! Speculation is half the fun!

        • Agree. Plus the fact that there’s more pressure on canelo to prove himself again that ggg.

          • I just hope GOLOVKIN pulls out the wily old guy card that we see once in a while, but we have to be objective, not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.

    • “He shifts gears and picks on someone he feels is older, slightly slower, and aging. Pretty easy to figure out Canelo’s plans” Oh please stop the “BULLSHIT” Scooby. Everyone wanted to see these two face again all over the internet and we all new this was bound to happen when he signed the 2 fight deal Bivol & GGG. A lot of people went far enough to say Canelo is ducking GGG for the trilogy. Now all of a sudden someone like you is saying that is “total bullshit”. Canelo hasn’t ducked anyone. He continues to fight the best infront of him and proved it by going up in weight that he had no business fighting in to face a younger tougher opponent but no that ain’t enough. I think Canelo doesn’t need to prove himself to us fans any further. He needs to stick to his division where he’s strongest and face the competition there.

      • Tony, I did not see the words “total bullshit or ducking” in my posting. Simply stating my personal view and yes, Canelo selected and focused on GGG to boost his confidence so he can build-up to get back at Bivol. Canelo sees GGG as way to get back on track with the one-sided recent loss. Yep, GGG is older now and not as precision as he used to be. I am sure Canelo and his team in their right minds can see the same obersvations.

      • Triple G long past his best, what’s to dispute about that. It just like my man says he wants go back to old days shift gear up against older lower now champs.

      • It ain’t BULLSHIT! It is the truth. Why doesn’t he challenge BENAVIDEZ? who I believe the Mexican Alvarez would beat. The hard-core fans are not interested in the third match against GOLOVKIN. GOLOVKIN was a boxer-puncher who was great when young. At 40 years of age, he is way past his prime. His last fight against Ryota Murata, where he looked vulnerable and slow, is a testament to getting old. The amount $ the Kazakhstani professional boxer will receive is considerably high, but he could get hurt. God, please, protect GOLOVKIN!

      • The only BULLSHIT here is “Everyone wanted to see these two face again”.
        They both are running from the fights they should take.

      • I didn’t care for this fight. Interesting, but would rather see him fight Benevidez or Charlo. Both were close, Ggg lost the second fight, time to move on.

    • Well canelo already had the fight planned before the lose but he does need to win the fight very convincingly, if not i think his value a draw should drop significantly.

  • Suddenly, Canelo is sounding different, as if he has been told he must hype the fight. Now he’s looking for the knockout and GGG has been “talking sh*t”, so on and so forth. It’s pure crap. Prepare properly, stay humble, always show respect for the sport and your opponent, do your talking in the ring. He’s lost. I hope Golovkin prevails! He was robbed in the first fight. The second fight was closer to being a draw instead of a win for Canelo.

    • Lexus. I agree to a point BUT lets not forget this is also a numbers game. They both tryna make that money. GGG knows this is his last big fight, he needs to do a better job at selling it. We get it, their both very popular BUT if you can create drama, theres potential for more buyers. Dont call urself the big drama show when u cant live up to it

      • GGG creates his drama in the ring, not at the podium like yours do.

        • Well, “drama in the ring”, thats not really lining his pockets, is it. Nope. Thats why dude is 40 and still fighting. The only drama is the drama of seeing which bum he was gonna fight next when he had 2 hungry champions in Charlo and Andrade knocking on his door.

    • Well, GOLOVKIN was a boxer-puncher who was great when young. At 40 years of age, he is way past his prime. His last fight against Ryota Murata, where he looked vulnerable and slow, is a testament to getting old. The amount $ the Kazakhstani professional boxer will receive is considerably high, but he could get hurt. I hope that GOLOVKIN beats CANELO but we have to be objective, not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. God, please, protect GOLOVKIN!

    • Cash cow fraud? U obviously dont pay attention to nbrs. If he WASNT a cash cow, why was GGG fighting bums until he cld get that 3rd fight? He cld have fought Charlo And A drade but chose not to for some odd reasons

      • Tony you are funny. You make my point even clearer. The fraudulent aspect is that Canelo is like 50-2 or whatever. Talk about a padded carefully sculpted record. Yes, you can thank the Suleiman’s for that in their attempt to manufacture another J.C. Chavez Sr. A blatant conflict of interest from a governing body. You “fans” would have no clue though. Forget who GGG was trying to fight. Why would he not be trying to cash in on the WBC/Canelo scheme?
        I’ve been waiting for Beterbiev to get hands on Canelo for a while now. Why isn’t the WBC/Canelo angling for that fight huh? I’ll wait…. That’s what I thought. And Charlo will beat Canelo as well if you really wanna know. Canelo is a fraud and a product of the WBC. Remeber that. His opponent list speak for itself son. And I KNOW boxing.

        • BETERBIEV would destroy CANELO if they fought right now. The Mexican plans to wait until the RUSSIAN gets older…

          • I agree. i believe he would get wrecked by Beterbiev and has no business in that weight class. Canelo’s pride took over and he gave it a shot with Kov, it worked, and then Bivol, it didnt work. cant fault a guy for trying. Look at GGG, this WHOLE time, hes stayed at 160. Not even fighting the best at that weight. he never took chances.. Canelo obviously doesnt care about a record or money, he wants to challenge the best. thats pretty honorable in todays gave of protecting that 0

        • Hldub, u sound like a bitter ex fan of Canelo. My guy, u can only be a fraud if u dont deliver to the hype. Does Canelo have a padded record, yes, there are a few suspect fighters on his resume. But thats for all top boxers. Look at GGG’s resume. Szermenta, Maritrosyan and STEVE ROLLS. pffff. I can prob beat steve old man rolls lmao. And ur calling Canelos record padded? Difference is Canelo his almost always fighting up, where as GGG typically fights down. He likes them 154 pounders to take a leap of faith rather then face rhe monsters in his division. Padded? Yea try again buddy.

          • Fair enough Tony. We’ll agree to disagree on this one. Good dialogue though!

  • Canelo should have fought GGG while he was still in his prime instead of throwing away his belt to avoid him!!!

    Canelo obviously realized he could not beat a prime GGG during that sparring session with him back the day.

    Avoiding GGG when you were the champ is nearly as bad as Floyd hiding from a prime Pac for 5 years!

    • Canelo did beat the Prime GGG during the 2nd fight convincingly. Yeah the first fight could have gone either way, but the 2nd fight there were no what ifs or buts about that win.

      • SMH. BOXING beat GGG in the second fight and Gabe him a draw in the first. It was political, based on the earning potential as Canelo was the next big thing and Golovkin was on the downside. Canelo is 0 and 2 and he knows it.

      • I thought Triple G won first fight, second fight could have gone either way. Triple G was slightly past prime, still terrific boxer, when trilogy started.

    • You telling that type of Truth to these casual could probably get you called a racist 🙂 what else have they got?

  • I love that people are sleeping on GGG because he’s aging and starting to slow down. I think the additional weight will help him. Canelo is coming off a loss and has a lot of ring miles himself. I’m going to go against the grain here and call this for GGG in their most exciting fight of the 3.

    • Canelo lost to Bivol because he jumped up in a heavier division to fight a tougher younger opponent. Canelo is a Super Middleweight/Middleweight not a Light Heavyweight. He had no business fighting there and or against Bivol. People just wants to see the man loose and he was trying to chase a legacy by facing the absolute best. But I don’t think he would loose at his normal weight against these pre-tenders. Canelo is only 31-years old. He’s not past his prime. He’s still there.

  • Iam ok with this fight, at least GGG is a more credible opponent (despite his age) than Rocky Fielding and Avni Yildirim.

  • I think Canelo needs to be very careful here. GGG is still a very dangerous fighter and puncher who has fought on equal terms with him for 24 rounds. If Canelo goes looking for the KO, he could be fighting the way GGG wants him to.

    • I don’t think he will go for the KO. All he needs to do is fight GGG like he did the 2nd fight and if he learned anything from the Bivol fight he will fix that mentality and fight GGG instead of trying for a 1 punch ko. Canelo is still a dangerous opponent for anyone at Middleweight.

  • After catching a loss to Bivol, Canelo plans to put on a ‘hockey mask,” change his last name to ‘Voorhees’ and perform a boxing KO destruction of GGG (with a body shot).

    After getting a nice but extremely painful payday against a pissed off Canelo, GGG will retire.

    Next, both Canelo and Benavidez will wear their “hockey masks” for a GREAT 168 POUND SCRAP IN TEXAS (2023). I know Benavidez will bring his “hockey mask,” and I HOPE Canelo does the same.

    • A straight carnivore diet with zero testing. GGG should do the same just for paybacks.

  • Yeah he needs another cherry picked win after the Bivol massacre. GGG won’t win but doubt Saul will ko him. The upside is Canelo is coming down in weight while Ganady is going up. That favors GGG for sure.Guess we will see how mentally Alvarez handles his last loss! But… looks like Canelo wants an ego boost win over a past prime pound per pound champ.

  • Cash out fight for Golovkin. Funny how all of a sudden canelo is more than willing to fight GGG, now that GGG is well past his peak. Unless Golovkin has one last great fight in him, I don’t see it being a good fight. Best of luck to him and I will be rooting him as well.

  • Stupid fight!
    I hope it gets cancelled.
    Ggg beat him once and 1 draw in my opinion.

    Ggg way too old and too small now
    Easy win for canelo by KO
    This will be Ggg last fight and he will retire.

    Great career Ggg, you were one of the best!
    I hope iam wrong

  • The only bemefit Ggg has is that canelo was in a tough fight now long ago ie kovalev before he fought canelo and never threw one right hand punch the whole fighter and shouod have changed his name from krusher to pillow

  • Yeah right, cinnamon will do his usual dancing around the ring to last 12 rounds and get his fake decision, again. Canelo has yet to definitively defeat GGG and he is coming off a battering. This is a 50-50 fight now in my opinion. If Canelo really tries to go out there and knock out Gena, he may be the one that gets knocked out.

    • Chris must have missed the last fight where Canelo stood toe to toe with him and backed GGG up most the fight. Gotta catch up to that second fight bud

    • Wait, r u talking about anelo or GGG. Cuz they BOTH be doing the same. Look at GGG’s resume since his last fight with Canelo

  • Of course Clenelo is searching for the knockout. He only waited to fight Golovkin until GGG was 82 years old the first time they fought, so it only makes sense that he’ll chase the rubber match when Golovkin is pushing 100. This fight makes no sense in any way outside of the easy payday. Clenelo has a gift draw and a gift win as it is. Why can’t Clenelo just be happy that he has judges in his pocket who will see to it that the only way he loses is if he loses badly.

    I’m going to laugh so hard if this backfires and Golovkin knocks out Clenelo. I’m going to laugh even harder if Clenelo chases the Bivol rematch if he loses to GGG because he’s going to lose that fight too.

    Clenelo has effectively eroded my ability to root for him with his constant and incessant politicking, mandatory weigh-in stipulations, catch weights, crooked judging that is favorable to him, his gift decisions as a result of said crooked judging, him fighting the weakest links when he chases belts, waiting until fighters show age before he chases them, eating tainted beef and Oscar De La Hoya.

  • Puro Canelo y puro México Cabronessss!!! Where all the haters at???? Lol

  • Triple G has approximately 60 days to prepare for the fight. An older fighter needs more rehab time in camp, rest between sessions, then young guns. G’s legs require the correct prep for this as he will be forced to fight in a retreat mode from the first round on. His trainer will have to reach deep into the well for the correct plan to prepare for the camp and the fight.

    • Trinity, do u really think that GGG hasnt been preparing for this fight since it was mentioned months ago? I hope that was a joke. It was already in contract PLUS the money made sense. Its only “news to us” they are finally fighting. There is no excuse if he doesnt train properly

      • I concur with your analysis. Triple G certainly is and has been in the process of training for the fight. But an aged fighter has to train differently from a younger fighter. Overtraining, leaving the fight in the gym must be avoided. Watching Triple G’s last fight his legs are suspect. The old saying “the legs go first” applies in this case. Marciano was great at retaining endurance in a set of older legs. Study his training regime. Triple G must change his constant plan of attacking for this fight. Watch Fullmer vs Basillo for a fighter who changed his style and won. Consider putting Duran on the payroll as an advisor. Duran could turn back the clock like no other fighter.

        • Trinity. I agree 100%.very well put! GGG’s been around a long time. Really long lol but yes, he definitely needs to train different. His last fight with Canelo showed he gassed early. If it wasnt for his kick ass jab, he wld have been in trouble. Now he has to battle a heavier weight and train for that. Its GGG, hes gonna rise n shine like he always does. I jus think that shine will diminish lil by lil with them body shots. Im jus hoping for another super close fight like the last!!

  • Fighting an old, past his prime GOLOVKIN does not prove much. I believe BIVOL would beat CANELO if they fought again.

  • That’s a bad strategy. He is trying to prove something in light of the loss to Bivol and the close nature of the first two Golovkin fights. He needs to box and just let the knockout come naturally if it happens. It may not happen at all. In fact, if he goes in like that he might be on the receiving end of a knockout.

  • I don’t really care for either one of them. I just hope it ends in a brutal knockout.

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