By Keith Idec
Canelo Alvarez won’t have fought in almost exactly a year when he enters the ring for his rematch against Gennady Golovkin next month.
Alvarez’s trainers, Eddy Reynoso and Jose “Chepo” Reynoso, don’t think their fighter’s long layoff will adversely affect the Mexican icon when he squares off with the 36-year-old defending middleweight champion for the second time.
In fact, they expect the 28-year-old Alvarez to be better and sharper in just his second fight at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds.
They’re convinced an improved Alvarez is ready to prove his superiority over Golovkin in their 12-round rematch September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View).
“The best of Canelo is yet to come,” Jose Reynoso said during a conference call Wednesday, according to a translator. “This is his second fight at 160 pounds, you know? His body is still processing, still getting conditioned at this new weight. So I maintain that the best is yet to come. On September 15, you will see a better Canelo and you will see him end the myth and the undefeated streak of a very basic fighter, Gennady Golovkin.”
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) will attempt to break Bernard Hopkins’ record of consecutive middleweight title defenses against Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs). Philadelphia’s Hopkins made 20 straight defenses of the IBF 160-pound championship from 1996-2005.
Golovkin has defended the WBA middleweight title 20 straight times since winning the interim version of it in August 2010. He also owns the WBC and IBO middleweight titles.
“We are working to win this fight,” Jose Reynoso said. “We’re not worried about breaking records or preventing people from breaking records. What we do wanna do is take away his undefeated record. Whatever comes for Canelo with his record, it’s gonna be the result of this fight. But we just have the win on our minds.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
