By: Sean Crose
“He pretends to be a nice guy,” Canelo Alvarez said of arch rival Gennady Golovkin on Friday, “but he’s not. He’s an asshole.” Both fighters were at a Los Angeles press conference to begin the media tour for their highly anticipated third fight, which will go down September 17th in Las Vegas. After Canelo and Golovkin stood on the stage eyeing each other menacingly, the event began. The well known hostility between the two , however, was still evident throughout the proceedings. “He pretends to be a nice guy and, ‘Oh, yes, I’m just looking for the fight, I’m happy,’” Canelo continued, “and then in other places he talks a lot of shit. It is what it is. Just be a man and say what you say.”
Genuine or not, Golovkin took the high road. “I respect him a lot,” he said of Canelo. “As for him saying it’s personal, I really don’t understand what he’s talking about because after the second fight, we shake hands. I believe we put everything behind us back then. If he says he has still has something against me, it’s his problem, not mine.” Needless to say, Canelo made it perfectly clear during the event that he does indeed have a problem with Golovkin.
“It’s personal for me,” he said. “And this is the way I am. I don’t pretend to be another person or say things in media or in other places and come here and pretend, ‘I didn’t say anything, I don’t want to say anything.’ No. It’s personal for me because he talked a lot of things. That’s why it’s personal. And I just can’t wait to be in that ring.” Canelo even went so far to indicate he’ll be going for the knockout against Golovkin when they meet for the third time…no easy task for any fighter.
The first two battles between these future Hall of Famers were nothing if not memorable. In 2017 Canelo was rewarded a draw at the end of their first bout, though most – or at least a VERY loud minority – felt the judges’ nod should have gone to Golovkin. The second match went down a year later, again with controversial results. This time Canelo was awarded an outright win by the judges, something not everyone agreed with. Canelo has long had a reputation of being a judges’ darling, though that’s frankly no fault of his own. In truth, the man likes to take on considerable challenges. He just lost to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight, after all, only to turn around to face the rugged Golovkin again this fall.
