By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Gennady Golovkin went 345-5 as an amateur, is 37-0 as a professional and has made 18 straight defenses of the WBA middleweight title he won seven years ago.

Canelo Alvarez still believes his 51-fight pro career has better prepared him for what figures to be a very difficult fight Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. Alvarez has battled boxing’s pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr., as well as such current and former champions as Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Shane Mosley, Austin Trout, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. during his ascent to superstardom.

“It’s important to have that level of experience,” Alvarez told a group of reporters through a translator Wednesday. “He has a lot of experience from the amateur days until now, all the professional fights. He has a lot of fights. But I have to say that I have the edge when it comes to the level of opposition.”

The best opponent the 35-year-old Golovkin has encountered, former WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs, gave Golovkin the toughest fight of his career March 18 at Madison Square Garden. Jacobs came back from a fourth-round knockdown to trouble Golovkin with his boxing ability, movement and speed, and ended the hard-hitting champion’s 23-fight knockout streak.

Brooklyn’s Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) almost upset Golovkin, but lost a close unanimous decision (114-113, 115-112, 115-112). Golovkin has stopped two more former middleweight champions – David Lemieux and Daniel Geale – and ex-welterweight champion Kell Brook as well.

The 27-year-old Alvarez also settled for a close victory over Lara (24-2-2, 14 KOs), a Cuban southpaw whose skill and movement made matters difficult for the former middleweight and junior middleweight champion. Alvarez beat Lara on two scorecards (117-111, 115-113), but one judge thought Lara won (115-113).

Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) suffered the lone loss of his 12-year pro career against Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), but he considers that 12-round, majority-decision defeat four years ago an invaluable experience.

“Most definitely, I was too young and it showed,” said Alvarez, who was 23 when he fought Mayweather. “But there I can say that what won [the fight for Mayweather] was the experience. But I learned a lot from that fight. So I don’t take it today as a defeat. I take it as an experience. I learned a lot from that fight.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.