Gennady Golovkin: ‘This is a fight boxing can be proud of’

Gennady Golovkin

UNIFIED middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin believes his upcoming clash with Canelo Alvarez is the biggest in boxing and one the sport ‘can be proud of.’

The unbeaten WBA, WBC and IBF champion fights Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on September 16 in a clash the entire boxing world has been waiting for.

After Floyd Mayweather trounced Conor McGregor in their money-grab over the weekend, Golovkin is looking forward to staging a genuinely mouth-watering contest between two of boxing’s most captivating fighters.

“This is a fight boxing can be proud of. ย It is boxing’s biggest fight.ย It is a fight for history.ย It is a real Mexican fight.ย Everyone will remember this fight.ย Canelo is No. 1 in Mexico, a country known for great fighters.ย He is very special,” he said.

“Canelo has looked good and looked strong in his last few fights.ย That is why we have worked so hard in training camp.ย We have worked on new things.ย This is my biggest fight. Iย worked hard to become champion of the world.ย I worked hard with Abel [Sanchez, his trainer] to stay champion of the world.”

Fans and boxing insiders have wanted Canelo and Golovkin to fight for the past couple of years, particularly when Canelo picked up the WBC middleweight title against Miguel Cotto in late 2015.

Though it took a little while, the fight was confirmed immediately after Alvarez defeated compatriot Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr in May, and tickets quickly sold out after going on sale.

canelo

Golovkin, who is yet to fight in Sin City as a professional, is pleased to be involved in such a highly-anticipated event.

He said; “This is our Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend gift to boxing and to boxing fans.ย The fans have been asking for this fight for years.ย We are going to give a great battle.ย I am very excited to be finally fighting in Las Vegas, but I am more excited thatย it is against Canelo.ย The energy will be off the charts.ย Let me repeat – this is a fight boxing can be proud of.”

Golovkin’s trainer Sanchez, who has been studiously preparing his charge up in Big Bear, California, insists that ‘GGG’ has not yet had a fight as big as this, despite the Kazakh wrecking ball becoming one of the most popular boxers in the world.

“All the big fights are in Vegas. Gennady has never had a fight of this magnitude. This is a fight for world supremacy. The middleweight division has always been the glory division so the winner of this fight will be considered a super star,” he said.

The respected coach also reflected on a sparring session Golovkin and Canelo shared many years ago when they were both rising pros.

“Sparring is sparring. Canelo was just a young boy of 19 or 20 years when he and Gennady sparred. He’s progressed immensely since then,” he said.

“My impression of Canelo after that sparring session was that he was fast and smart, had nice combinations and good movement, but he was only five years into his professional career at that time. I thought he could be a champion or a star someday.

“Gennady needs to beat Canelo. He needs to destroy Canelo; destroy the aura that he has right now.”

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