Golovkin set for jackpot in Vegas

Las Vegas, Sept. 14: Gennady Golovkin is undaunted by the challenge of fighting for the first time in Las Vegas, saying defending his titles against Canelo Alvarez will be like going on a date with a beautiful girl.

Three belt champion Golovkin will be the underdog when he faces Mexico’s hard-hitting Alvarez on Saturday in a 12-round mega world title fight at the T-Moblie Arena.

“It is like you are going with your new girlfriend, Oh yeah,” he said of his excitement about the fight for middleweight supremacy.

The 35-year-old from Kazakhstan told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino that he doesn’t consider himself an underdog against Alvarez, who is eight years his junior.

“This is my game, my fight” he said. “I am the boss. I am the champion.”

Golovkin has waited a long time to get his first fight on the boxing’s biggest stage in the United States. He is undefeated with a 37-0 record and has fought in 22 cities and seven different countries but never in Sin City.

“The biggest day is coming. This is a true fight, there is a lot of money coming,” Golovkin said.

Several years ago Golovkin hired a much younger Alvarez to be one of his sparring partners at a training camp in Big Bear, California.

So there is some familiarity between the two but Golovkin expects Alvarez to come into the fight with a few new wrinkles in his game plan.

“He might bring some new ideas to this fight. I am ready for anything,” Golovkin said. “I am ready to fight. It is a first class fight.”

Alvarez, who has only lost once in 51 fights (49-11), said he trained 10 weeks for this bout.

“I just want to say I am prepared. I know it is going to be a tough fight,” Alvarez said. — AFP