Canelo Alvarez has repeatedly vowed to end his rivalry with Gennadiy Golovkin with a knockout, and it may happen, he says, courtesy of one of his signature punches.
Alvarez, the undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico, will defend his belts against Kazakhstan’s Golovkin on Sept. 17 at T-Mobile Arena on DAZN pay-per-view.
In the lead-up to the fight thus far, Alvarez has voiced his eagerness to remove all ambiguity regarding their rivalry. The two fought to a controversial draw in 2017, in a fight most observers believed Golovkin deserved to win, while Alvarez narrowly edged Golovkin on points in the rematch in 2018.
Asked in a recent interview about the likelihood of not only knocking out Golovkin but doing so by hurting him to the body, Alvarez offered a confident answer, citing his talent for tagging his opponents to the torso.
“A lot,” Alvarez told FightHype.com. “It’s one of my best punches, to the body, right?
“I’m gonna work whatever, head, body, but my goal is to end this fight before the 12th round. So, whatever I need I’m gonna do it in the ring.”
Many observers believe Alvarez will have the upper hand over Golovkin because of age; Alvarez is 32, while Golovkin is 40. There have also been some signs that Golovkin has been on the physical downslide; he was hurt visibly to the body in his hellacious fight with Sergiy Derevyanchenko in 2019 and went through some rough patches in his last fight with Ryota Murata in April before winning by late round stoppage.
Age aside, Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) believes his rivalry with Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) has been popular with the public because their fighting styles mesh so well. Of course, Alvarez thinks he has all the tools at this juncture in his career to have his hands raised on Sept. 17.
“This kind of fight, our styles make this fight perfect,” Alvarez said. “That’s why it’s a trilogy. We had two great fights because our styles make the fight perfect. And I think this fight is gonna be a good fight too. But I think I’m more mature, I’m in my prime, I feel confident. I think that’s gonna be the difference.”