By Keith Idec

Gennady Golovkin divulged Tuesday that he plans to “punish” Canelo Alvarez in their rematch for everything that has happened between them over the past six months.

“I want to punish him,” Golovkin said during a conference call, according to his translator. “I want to have a fight and punish him for all the bad things that he and his team have done – to size him down and put them in their place.”

Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, isn’t concerned that his fighter’s anger toward Alvarez will consume him when they meet in their middleweight championship rematch September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View).

Sanchez is confident Golovkin will channel his emotions effectively while trying to make Alvarez pay for failing two performance-enhancing drug tests in February and causing their rematch, initially scheduled for May 5, to be canceled.

“He’s not angry,” Sanchez said later during the conference call. “He’s got a purpose in the gym and he’s got a purpose of what he wants to do inside the ring. Canelo’s done some things that he feels he needs to pay for, and he’ll do that in the ring. In the gym, it’s just another day training in the gym. He’s the same guy that he was before. He trains hard. Just his mentality for this fight seems to be very, very focused on trying to punish Canelo, as he was when he fought [Curtis] Stevens. If you recall, when he fought Stevens, he was like that, too. He has the same mentality.”

Brooklyn’s Stevens excessively talked trash to Golovkin before their November 2013 bout in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Stevens even predicted he’d put Golovkin in a coffin and staged a fake funeral for the then-upcoming champion, which offended Golovkin.

Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) knocked down Stevens in the second round. He won by technical knockout when Stevens’ trainer, Andre Rozier, told referee Harvey Dock to stop their fight right after the eighth round ended.

Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) hasn’t lost by knockout or technical knockout during his 12-year pro career. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.