Gennady Golovkin laughed. Why not? More than three years after he last shared a ring with Canelo Alvarez, the 40-year-old Golovkin finally got another shot. Golovkin gritted his teeth on Tuesday, moments after the obligatory staredown of the bigwigs.
I don’t think he said. “He is happy.”
It’s been 10 years since Golovkin burst onto the US boxing scene to introduce himself to a small casino in upstate New York and the HBO cameras that travelled there. That night, Grzegorz gave Proksa a derby. Gabriel Rosado, Matthew McLean and David Lemieux were among the dozens immediately arrested. He captivated fans with his brute force and beguiling English that produced words like “good boy” and “good drama show”.
His star is rising fast. However, it has been burning slowly in recent years. After losing to Alvarez in 2018, Golovkin has fought four times. He defeated the peerless Steve Rolls. Sergi won a narrow decision to regain a share of the middleweight crown from Derevyanchenko. He defended it against lowly challenger Kamil Szeremet. He unified the 160-pound title earlier this year but did so by stopping Ryota Murata, the underdog in the middleweight division.
Fighters who once graced boxing’s greatest stages are gone.
He will be back on Saturday. Canelo-Golovkin has four more middleweight divisions than Alvarez. This is a sad game. The bad blood has been simmering since 2018 when Alvarez tested positive for a banned substance and Golovkin used it to cast doubt on all of Canelo’s success. Alvarez responded cleanly by hitting Golovkin again. He then denied Golovkin a third fight and the big payday that came with it.
The usually mild-mannered Alvarez has been anything but in recent weeks. He called the helmet “silver”. He says this third fight is “personal”. He told a small group of reporters this week that he wants to punish Golovkin. He spoke passionately about being the first fighter to pursue Golovkin. Alvarez will take his leave from his career.
He doesn’t show interest in any unnecessary that he is saying by Golovkin he stopped seeing all this a long time ago.”
This fight is important for Alvarez. He wants a decisive victory against his long-time rival. He is looking to regain the momentum he lost in May when he fell to Dmitry Bivola, his last loss in a decade. “No one wants to lose,” This is boxing. I progressed, trained hard, and that was it. The next step said, Alvarez.
For Golovkin, there seems to be more at stake. Golovkin is in the downturn of his work. He says he will not be done on Saturday, but the day hunting mega-fights ended. He talked about fighting in his native Kazakhstan. In London. In Australia. The pair have the 160-pound title and will be free agents up in the air, but the idea that he could protect them from Jermall Charlo or stay at super-middleweight to get rid of David Benavidez seems like wishful thinking.
For Golovkin, this fight is about legacy. Golovkin famously claimed he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer every time he retired. He has good faith. He has the record of being a 2-time middleweight champion with 22 title defences. He joined the department twice. He is one of the most devastating punchers of this generation, with 84% of his fights ending in knockout.
For Golovkin his finest win in 2017 was when he took victory against Daniel Jacobs. He previously lost by knockout to David Lemieux. The former is the holder of the title in the last quarter. Anyone in Golovkin’s orbit can bet that Golovkin will win the first fight against Alvarez. It can also be said that Derevyanchenko and the stone were lost in the battle of sock robots. In the new year, Golovkin has been allowed to burnish his resume against Charlo, Demetrius Andrade and Jaime Munguia. Rolls chose the likes of Szeremeta and Murata.
A win on Saturday changed everything. He will make Golovkin the undisputed middleweight champion, a distinction he has never achieved at middleweight. It would be an official victory for Canelo, who still has a case to be named pound-for-pound best, even after losing to Bivol. At least until someone with deep pockets tries to lure Golovkin and Alvarez into the ring next year, they’ll end one of boxing’s best rivalries.
Golovkin knew why he worked on Saturday. He said that he know each other pretty good. “Competition will not be the easy one. The 32-year-old Alvarez has looked weak in recent fights and remains a corpse. He will face Canelo in Las Vegas, and even if he loses, he always seems to give Alvarez a favourable decision.
The task is very difficult. Golovkin believes he still has. He smiled at the immature suggestion. Ten years ago, Golovkin wowed the American audience with a spectacular performance. Will try to call one more time on Saturday.
