“It is not serious for me, that pound for pound,” said WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who defends against Canelo Alvarez on Sept 16 in Las Vegas. “There are so many great fighters. For me, what is more serious is, maybe last five years I destroy my opponents, and Canelo did the same. I do not know who is close with us in the middleweight division. I do not know who is number two, number three, number four. I know this guy [Canelo]. He is a special guy. He is a superstar. He is national idol, a hero.

“This is much bigger for me, not pound-for-pound. Pound-for-pound is just one guy who says, ‘You are number one pound-for-pound,’ and another one says, ‘No, I like that guy more.’ Everybody feels different. For me, pound-for-pound is not serious. This is my biggest fight. This fight is real because it is about winning a war. It is about boxing history. It is about being the champion of the world.”