Gennady Golovkin Calls Canelo Alvarez a Drug Cheat, Oscar De La Hoya 'Dirty'

Gennady Golovkin accused Saul "Canelo" Alvarez of being a long-term user of performance-enhancing drugs and said the Mexican superstar's Golden Boy Boxing promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, was also "dirty" during his own boxing career.

On Tuesday, Martin Rogers of USA Today passed along comments GGG made to reporters at his training camp ahead of the budding rivals' scheduled rematch May 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

"Canelo's team are using these drugs and everybody's trying to pretend it's not happening," Golovkin said. "This guy, he knows. This is not his first day in boxing. He proves he gets benefits from everyone and he can get away with it. The commentators, commission, doping commission—this is a very bad business, [it's] not sport. Check him on a lie detector and then we can find out everything."

Alvarez tested positive for traces of clenbuterol, a banned substance, during a voluntary testing in February leading up to the fight.

The Associated Press reported Alvarez's camp attributed the failed test to contaminated meat. The explanation was deemed plausible by Daniel Eichner, director of the lab that conducted the examination, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

"These values are all within the range of what is expected from meat contamination," Eichner told the AP.

"I am an athlete who respects the sport and this surprises me and bothers me because it had never happened to me," Alvarez said. "I will submit to all the tests that require me to clarify this embarrassing situation and I trust that at the end the truth will prevail."

Golovkin, who fought Canelo to a draw in their hyped September meeting, said he believes the two-division world champion cheated during his preparation for that encounter too, per Rogers.

"Before the first fight, I knew he was not clean," he said. "Have a look at the video. He used some pills. It was pretty obvious when his muscles were all with traces of injections. I've known it for a long time."

Golden Boy President Eric Gomez provided a statement to USA Today in response to the allegation.

"It is ridiculous," he said. "[GGG] doesn't sound like a confident fighter. I guess he has a lot of insecurities. There is an investigation [into the clenbuterol] and we are cooperating. When it is complete, all the facts will come out. Canelo is a clean fighter; the facts and statistics back it up."

Golovkin also referred to members of the Nevada Athletic Commission as "terrorists" who are "killing the sport" and said they belong in prison.

Nevertheless, he didn't suggest the middleweight title rematch was in any danger of cancellation despite his suspicions about Alvarez.