Canelo Alvarez to Fight Gennady Golovkin in September Before Dmitry Bivol

Canelo Alvarez will finish his trilogy against Gennady Golovkin before his rematch with Dmitry Bivol.

Alvarez confirmed he will honor his scheduled September fight against GGG during a press conference Monday. 

“We already had that contract, that deal, so we have to continue what we started," Alvarez said. "And I think they are the two most important fights in boxing–the fight with Golovkin and the rematch with Bivol because, unfortunately, we lost, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to try again.

“The important thing here is perseverance, and we are going to do it again. ... What is certain is that we will return in September, and these days—today, tomorrow, the day after—we are going to announce the fight, only we have to wait a little.”

The Alvarez-GGG fight was set up in advance of Canelo's upset loss to Bivol earlier this month. In the aftermath of that upset, there was some chatter that Alvarez would push back the GGG fight in favor of an immediate rematch against Bivol.

It appears that won't be the case.

Alvarez previously fought GGG to a draw in 2017 before defeating him via majority decision a year later. Both boxers had been building the hype for a rematch in the four years since, with GGG's fight against Ryota Murata and Alvarez's against Bivol seemingly being one final tune-up before they finished their trilogy.

Bivol had other ideas, using his size to work over the smaller Alvarez as they fought to the scorecards.

What is clear is that these are the two biggest remaining fights in boxing. However, if Canelo drops his bout against GGG in September, it's fair to wonder how much air it would take out of a Bivol rematch.