By Miguel Rivera
Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) is planning to bring the pain to Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) from the very first round of their anticipated rematch.
The Mexican star will challenge Golovkin for his WBA, WBC, IBO middleweight titles on September 15th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The two boxers fought to a controversial twelve round split draw in September of 2017.
No draw this time, says Canelo.
He wants to come out firing with more aggression from the opening bell, because his goal is to knock Golovkin out.
"I'm going to start working from the first round to knock him out," Canelo said to the Los Angeles Times.
There is a lot of tension and animosity between the two boxers, as they head into the rematch.
Some of the tension stems from their negotiations for the rematch.
Golovkin was demanding a 50-50 monetary split. After rejecting several offers, Golovkin finally accepted a deal of 55-45 in Canelo's favor.
"He goes out there and says he does not do it for the money, he does it for [boxing]," Canelo said. "Those who say they do not do it for the money are the ones who do it for [the money]."
And the other part of the tension, was Canelo testing positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in February - which prompted Golovkin to make allegations that Canelo was a user of performance enhancing drugs.
Canelo has maintained that his positive tests were directly connected to his consumption of contaminated meat.
"It does not bother me," Canelo said. "[The Nevada State Athletic Commission] knew it was not intentional, but I have to respect the rules."
"It does not bother me because [Golovkin is] always going to have doubts and he's going to be talking and saying things, he does not bother me, he does not worry me. They will always be against me."
