B/R Exclusive: Gennadiy Golovkin Opens Up on His Fierce Rivalry with Canelo Alvarez

Gennadiy Golovkin is, by well-earned reputation, a straightforward guy.

And he insists there is zero animosity in his relationship with Canelo Alvarez.

The two have fought twice—first to a split-decision draw in September 2017 and then, exactly one day shy of a full year later, to a majority decision in which Alvarez handed Golovkin his only defeat.

The second fight, by the way, was delayed six months after Alvarez failed drug tests.

Golovkin is not shy in suggesting he deserved to win both fights, and plenty of deeply embedded boxing people back him.

Yet, in spite of noticeable changes in the way the two men behave in each other’s company—warm handshakes replaced by cold stares—he sticks to the claim of zero enmity as they prepare to make it a trilogy September 17 in Las Vegas.

But now that he’s on the flip side of 40 years old, his nonverbals may be betraying him.

The longtime and still-reigning middleweight champion recently sat down with Bleacher Report for a video Zoom chat in which Alvarez’s name inevitably came up.

And when asked directly if things with Canelo had soured over the years since their seemingly cordial initial interactions, his face curled into a mischievous smile as he launched a subtle verbal haymaker in the Mexican’s direction.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” he said.

“Maybe it’s just the side effects of certain substances in the body. But I treat it as a sporting event, nothing personal. But the words that he chooses to say are unexplainable. Inexplicable.”

Those words, incidentally, are about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

“He's a f--king a--hole," Alvarez told TMZ Sports this month. He continued:

"He's not honest. He pretends to be a good person and be different but he's not. He talks a lot of s--t about me. He'll say, ‘I respect him, his career.’ And, other part, he'll say, ‘He's an embarrassing boxer, he's embarrassing for Mexican boxing.’ ... I hate that motherf--ker because of that."

Welcome to a high-stakes “he said/he said,” sweet science style.

A third fight between the rivals had been an on-again/off-again proposition from the moment they exited the T-Mobile Arena ring after fight No. 2. Their names were intermittently in each other’s mouths even as Alvarez pursued and captured titles at 168 and 175 pounds and Golovkin stayed put at middleweight and regained two of three mainstream belts he’d lost in the 2018 rematch in Las Vegas.

It became a done deal this spring when it was announced that they’d meet again in September after interim fights in which Golovkin faced the WBA’s 160-pound claimant, Ryota Murata, and Alvarez again climbed to light heavyweight to face that division’s WBA champion, Dmitry Bivol.

Golovkin passed his test with a ninth-round TKO win in Japan, but Alvarez suffered his second defeat in 61 career fights when he dropped a wide decision to Bivol. He insisted in the days following the fight that a rematch with Bivol was a priority, but a confirmation came soon after that he’d face Golovkin to complete their trilogy in a bout in which Alvarez’s four titles at 168 pounds are on the line.

Had Bivol not won, Golovkin isn’t certain he’d have gotten his third try.

“Knowing certain details, I believe that this fight would take place regardless of the outcome of the Bivol-Canelo fight,” he said, the impish smile returning. “On the other hand, his loss in his last fight probably brought him back to reality. It probably taught him to treat boxing more seriously.

“At some point I stopped hoping that this fight was going to take place because there were certain obligations, contractual obligations, that were broken, there were some legal issues that came about, and then the pandemic began. So indeed, I stopped hoping at some point.

“But eventually this fight materialized, and I’m very happy that it is going to take place now.”

And now that it’s happening, it’ll provide another referendum on the Golovkin legacy.

The perpetually proud Kazakh insisted before the Murata fight that another go-round with Alvarez was not necessary for his career narrative—given his multi-belt pre- and post-Canelo title reigns and a prodigious KO streak that covered eight years and 23 opponents from 2008 to 2017.

Still, when compared with his pristine 42-0 slate against everyone else, the 0-1-1 record against Alvarez does leave a smudge that Golovkin will likely be anxious to wipe clean come September.

Whether he pointedly admits it or not.

“My answer to your question before the fight in Japan was an honest answer,” he said. “I back then did not believe it was important, and I still think that it is not going to affect my legacy in any negative way.

“It would be just an excellent addition to my achievements if I deliver to my opponent and I get what I deserve. On the other hand, I believe that I will not lose anything. It is not going to tarnish my legacy even if I fail to win this fight. I will still be happy. It will just be my legacy that will stay with me, just without this additional goal.”

As for how to accomplish the goal, Golovkin played it conveniently close to the vest.

He’s been intermittently impressive in blowouts over relative nobodies Steve Rolls (KO Rd. 4) and Kamil Szeremeta (TKO Rd. 7) and appeared intermittently vulnerable while working his way to victories over more recognizable top-10 commodities Sergiy Derevyanchenko (UD Rd. 12) and Murata (TKO Rd. 9).

The Szeremeta and Murata fights came at the beginning and end of a pandemic-prompted 16-month hiatus, the longest of his career and one that followed on the heels of a 14-month break between Derevyanchenko and Szeremeta.

Overall, he’ll have fought just four times and 32 rounds between Alvarez II and Alvarez III, roughly half the workload of his younger (by eight years) rival.

Nevertheless, the mere suggestion that the layoffs could be an issue raises Golovkin’s ire.

“I don’t think that I would need to demonstrate to somebody or prove anything to anybody,” he said.

“I believe I need to be myself and do my job, and I don’t feel the need to prove anything to anybody. He became a more active fighter because he became the focus of his promoter, who was able to bring him back and reshuffle his card deck. It will not affect me much.”

Meanwhile, Golovkin says, what also won’t affect him is the third Alvarez result.

He wouldn’t promise that a win, even an impressive one, would prompt a glorious ride into the sunset. Nor did he concede that a loss in the third bout would instantly trigger retirement talk.

He won the vacant IBF title at middleweight with the defeat of Derevyanchenko and added the WBA belt with the stoppage of Murata. Win, lose or draw in September, he’ll have the option of returning to 160 pounds—a weight he’s hit or fought under in 41 of 44 career bouts—to defend his claims or perhaps engage with the division’s WBO (Demetrius Andrade) and WBC (Jermall Charlo) champions.

So if you’re trying to gauge exactly when he’ll be finished, Golovkin isn’t showing his cards.

"It’s hard for me to say,” he said.

“I will continue until I stop feeling I can show the best of me, the best boxing at this top level. I will continue until my body tells me to stop. I also have the belts at 160, so the victory or the loss in this upcoming fight is not going to affect my decision about when to retire.

“It’s about being honest with myself, listening to my body, to my mind, and to feel when it tells you to stop. And then you stop.”