Canelo Alvarez is talking up a gargantuan amount of game heading into his Saturday night trilogy fight against Gennadiy Golovkin.
Alvarez has a massive chip on his shoulder following a unanimous decision loss against Dmitry Bivol in May, as well as having to deal with resurfaced arguments that he dodged defeats with the help of the judges in two hotly contested matchups against Golovkin in 2017 (split draw) and 2018 (majority decision win).
“I will [destroy him],” Alvarez told BoxingScene.com and other reporters.
“I beat him, and I always feel the same. The people are never going to give me the credit [if I win], don’t worry. And I’m not worried about it. I’m just worried about pushing forward and doing the best for my career. It doesn’t matter to me what people say or public opinion. No matter what, you’ll never make them happy whether you win or lose.”
Alvarez said he will showcase a more aggressive version of his offense once the 25th round begins against Golovkin.
“I think this fight will end in a knockout. That’s for sure. The knockout will absolutely eliminate any doubt from what happened in the previous fights. That’s what I am going to look for from the first round,” said Alvarez.
“I don’t care what his style is going to be. I’m going to be there and find a way to knock him out.
“I’m a fighter who takes risks in going up in weight and is opening challenges when there are none out for me. I had no reason to do it. But I wanted to build my career and history. And when you look for history, you’re going to have some bumps in the road. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t good at achieving them. I’m on that road. Individually I’m very competitive and that won’t stop me from my objective.”
The four-division champion Alvarez’s previous two fights against the 40-year-old Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) took place at 160 pounds. Triple G has never fought above or below the middleweight limit throughout his 16-year career.
The undisputed super middleweight champion Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) will return to 168 pounds after falling short against Bivol at 175 pounds.
“It was a very tough loss [against Bivol]. It hurt a lot to lose. No one likes to lose,” said Alvarez. “Life is like that. You win. You lose. But at the end of it all, greatness is getting up again and following the path, and getting up stronger than you were before.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
