By Daily Sports on September 14, 2018

Gennady Golovkin’s rematch with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been called the “fight of the century”, one that will be “remembered for the ages” and “the biggest in the sport of boxing”.

Big billing, even by boxing standards.

The T-Mobile Arena bout in Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning in the UK – 364 days after their controversial draw at the same venue – gives Alvarez a first chance to perform following a drugs ban. Golovkin, meanwhile, can set a record 21 world-title defences in the middleweight division if he retains his WBC and WBA belts.

The venue is sold out – Mexican support will descend on the Nevada desert venue to cheer on Alvarez on what is the nation’s independence celebrations weekend.

And the fighters – who boast 68 knockouts between them – have a dislike for one another, with Golovkin irked by his rival’s two positive tests for clenbuterol.

“If you are a real guy, a real fan, you want clean sport,” WBA and WBC world middleweight champion Golovkin told BBC Sport.

In the weeks leading up to the rematch, Kazakhstan’s Golovkin has said he has “no respect” for Alvarez or his team after they blamed February’s positive drugs tests on the fighter ingesting clenbuterol by eating contaminated meat in his homeland.

“The people who support him and stand by him are swindlers, just like him,” he told film crews who were following his build-up to the bout.

Relations between the two camps strained to the point where earlier this year a one-hour deadline was imposed on negotiations before – in the words of promoter Eric Gomez – the rematch was “dead”.

But to beat Bernard Hopkins’ record of 20 straight middleweight world title defences, Golovkin now gets a second shot at Alvarez, a man who turned professional aged 15 and who has held world titles at two weights in a 52-fight career.

“I know so many great fighters, legends, heroes in this sport that if I beat Hopkins’ record I stand maybe one step closer to being a legend and that is huge for me,” added Golovkin.

And Golovkin, who many observers believed won the first bout before controversial scorecards were read, is setting his eyes on other goals, notably Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders, who holds the WBO world middleweight title.

“If I beat Canelo I want that fight, as my goal is all the belts,” he told BBC Sport. “I am old school, not four or five champions, just one champion.”

•Excerpted from a BBC report. Photo shows Gennady Golovkin vs Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 14, 2018

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