Gennadiy Golovkin 42-1-1 (37) wants to remind the public to never forget the dirty drug test that Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-2-2 (39) turned in ahead of their rematch in 2018.
The pair were due to meet in May of that year, but the bout was pushed back to September when Alvarez tested positive for Clenbuterol. The Mexican superstar claimed the failed test was due to tainted beef and he was banned from boxing for six months, allowing the rematch to take place in September.
Alvarez won that fight by majority decision following their disputed draw 12 months earlier.
Now the pair will lock horns again at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night to round out their trilogy.
IBF and WBA middleweight champion Golovkin will be stepping up in weight to face Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight crown.
The 40-year-old Kazakh urged fight fans not to forget the events of 2018 that led to the postponement of their rematch.
“I don’t think this can ever be forgotten,” Golovkin said to the NY Daily News. “Some people came to terms with that situation. Some people don’t want to continue thinking about it. Some are turning their eyes away from it.
“[Canelo] doesn’t bother me at all, but when a person has a lot of bad traits, traits that get in the way of him living a normal life. That bothers him. That’s what we see right now.”
Alvarez, 32, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 20-0 (11) in May. It was his first loss in almost a decade.
“In his last fight, the knockout was not necessary [to beat him],” Golovkin said. “It’s encouraging that the judges are not loyal to Canelo anymore. They don’t feel this burden of his image.”
The bad blood between Golovkin and Alvarez is real. When asked what he perceives as Alvarez’s greatest weakness, Golovkin replied: “Arrogance, and arrogance is punishable.”
Golovkin will be facing Alvarez for the first time with Johnathon Banks in his corner. Banks replaced Golovkin’s longtime trainer Abel Sanchez three years ago.
“I would like Triple G to be able to display more than one skill,” Banks said to the NY Daily News. “He knows he has the punching power. I want the people to see his movement, his offense, his quickness.
“He’s a complete fighter and I’m trying to wake that guy up. In the amateurs and the Olympics, he was boxing circles around guys. That’s what ‘G’ did the first time. He just boxed him.”
That said, Banks said he still wants his charge to win by knockout.
“I want the knockout 100 percent, but I don’t want to need the knockout to win,” Banks said. “I’ve told him, you cannot expect a victory if you back up the whole fight. I would love to keep it in the center of the ring, make it a boxing match and let’s see what happens.”
