Gennadiy Golovkin was surprised to hear Canelo Alvarez saying recently that the third fight between them is personal because of all the “s***” that he’s talked about him in the past.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) wonders if it was so personal for Canelo, why did it take him so long to finally fight him again after four years since their last fight in 2018.
Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) and Golovkin are tentatively scheduled to meet for their long-awaited trilogy match on September 17th, as long as both fighters win their interim fights.
IBF middleweight champion Golovkin is facing WBA champion Ryota Murata (16-2, 13 KOs) on April 9th on DAZN at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Canelo is fighting WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) on May 7th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That fight will be on DAZN PPV.
Golovkin rates Murata highly
“Of course, I’m going to his home country of Japan. What’s important is Ryota Murata is the opponent and the fact that he’s an Olympic champion and he’s the current world champion holding the WBA title,” said Golovkin to Ariel Helwani.
“He’s the pride and the star of his country,” Golovkin continued about the 35-year-old Murata. “I know the organizers of this event. Everything will be top class, and I’m very excited to be a part of this amazing event.
“Yes, it did take place but that was a long time ago,” GGG said of his sparring with Murata that took place nearly ten years ago. “It was not the pure sparring approach that he came to spar me.
“I learned during those sessions that Murata is a very serious fighter with a high boxing IQ,” said Golovkin.
Murata is a good fighter, but he’s been found wanting in two of his matches as a professional against Rob Brant and Hassan NDam. Whatever form that Murata had during his best years will likely have been eroded by his decision to sit inactive since 2019.
There’s a very good chance that Murata is going to be rusty, and not ready to fight a guy of Golovkin’s caliber after nearly three years out of the ring.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes that Murata could beat Golovkin due to the wear & tear and his advancing age. With that said, Arum promotes the 35-year-old 2012 Olympic gold medalist Murata, so you must take whatever he says with a grain of salt.
If the shoe was on the other foot and Arum was promoting Golovkin, he’d be talking about how ring rusty and old Murata is, reminding fans that he lost to Brant and N’Dam.
Gennadiy wonder why Canelo took so long to fight him
“It’s premature to discuss it. Let’s wait until the end of May to have a better picture and then we’ll have this as a topic for discussion,” said Golovkin when asked if he definitely will be fighting Canelo on September 17th.
“I don’t want to jump the gun and pass the things still in front of me. Let’s step by step,” said Golovkin.
“It is absolutely not true, and my advice to you is not to regard this in this way,” said Golovkin when asked if he’s only staying around at his age is to try and get the third fight with Canelo, so that he can right the wrongs of their two previous fights.
“The reason I’m still in boxing is because I feel great and feel that I can still demonstrate high performance.
“I’ll be honest with you. If he believes it was something I said and that it was personal, where has he been all these years? Three or four years already?
“If it’s personal, what has he been waiting for? ” said Golovkin in reacting to being told that Canelo said it’s personal for him because he’s ‘talked a lot of s***’ about him in the past,” said Golovkin.
It was odd for Canelo to sound so indignant when asked about Golovkin recently, as he’s not the one that was given a bad deal in their two fights.
If anything, Golovkin should be the fighter that is bitter, given that many boxing fans feel that he deserved a victory in his first fight with Canelo in 2017 and at least a draw in their second clash in 2018.
Moreover, Canelo’s positive test for the PED clenbuterol in 2018 is another reason why he shouldn’t be the one that is talking about it being personal. Really, Golovkin should be the one that’s upset.
How Canelo feel if Golovkin tested positive for a PED and came into their fights looking like he had gained a lot of muscle? Canelo probably wouldn’t have been happy about it.
GGG discusses Canelo’s scandal
“Secondly, I have not said anything bad,” said Golovkin about Canelo. Whatever has been said was tied to those scandals, and he was the cause of those scandals,” said Golovkin alluding to Canelo’s positive test for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol.
“There were arguments and proof. It’s not me, it’s the entire world,” Golovkin continued about Canelo’s positive test for a PED. “If he believes I’m talking s***. That’s the entire world using the arguments and everything can be proven.
“For him to be making arguments now and framing it in this way, it’s kind of low, I would say,” GGG said of Canelo. “It’s kind of mean. It’s indecent behavior and I do not have any hate. I honestly don’t talk about him at all.
“He’s not been in my focus currently for quite a while,” Golovkin said about him not focusing on Canelo. “Whatever was said in the past was in connection to the events that did, in fact, take place and there are arguments that you cannot argue with and say this was not true.
“He had issues with the streaming service DAZN. There was a contract for our rematch, but they did everything to avoid it. They took it to court with the streaming service. If they had wanted that fight, they would have made efforts to make it happen, it’s as simple as that.
“Right now, those sorted remarks, it just looks mean,” said Golovkin about Canelo.