While some opted to take in the sights up close and personal at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, others plunked down their hard-earned money to purchase the pay-per-view. In any case, there appeared to be one overarching agreement, Canelo Alvarez would defeat Dmitry Bivol.
Pegged as a gargantuan favorite heading into their May 7th showdown, Bivol ignored numerous pessimistic critics and would go on to score the unanimous decision victory over the pound-for-pound star.
Now, more than four months later, most of the boxing world, at least in some capacity, has observed Alvarez’s showdown against Bivol. Well, besides Gennadiy Golovkin.
The hard-hitting middleweight champion congratulated Bivol following his upset victory. But, the newly turned 40-year-old doesn't feel the need to flip on his television set, grab his pen and paper and take notes. Although Golovkin will attempt to register his own upset win against Alvarez on September 17th, he believes that he has nothing to gain from rewatching the tape of Alvarez’s latest defeat.
“I still have not watched the full fight,” said Golovkin on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas. “I just watched the highlights. To me, it doesn't make sense to watch the full fight. I didn't like how Canelo looked during that fight. I don’t want to belittle Dmitry Bivol’s performance during this fight, don’t get me wrong, Dmitry Bivol deserved this victory. I just want to say that Canelo did not look his best. He did not show what he’s capable of. I’m certain that he will be a different fighter during our fight.”
Alvarez, who currently holds every major world title at 168 pounds, admitted that his body failed to respond to his brazen move to the light heavyweight division. Still, regardless of his recent shortcomings, Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) has promised to violently end the Hall of Fame bound career of Golovkin come the 17th of September.
Golovkin, though, has smiled at what he considers to be empty threats. On two separate occasions, despite the end results, the Kazakhstan native maintains that he’s done more than enough to prove that he’s the better fighter.
Following 12 hard-fought rounds against Alvarez during their first showdown in September of 2017, Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) was incredulous with the final scorecards, settling for a split decision draw. Approximately one year later, Golovkin was once again forced to deal with what he believed was an unjust ruling, losing to Alvarez via majority decision.
Though perturbed by the final outcome, Golovkin is unwilling to dwell on the past. As the former Olympic silver medalist places the finishing touches on an arduous training camp, he’s hopeful that this time around, there will be no funny business on the judge's end.
“I really hope that the judges will judge our fight without any bias. That they will be as reasonable as possible.”
