I DON’T KNOW IF WE’LL GO HOME OR TO HOSPITAL
Golovkin’s chilling warning ahead of fight
THE world of boxing is braced for a seismic eruption and the promoter of this earthmoving event predicts how violent it will be for the two men at its epicentre.
Oscar De La Hoya, the Golden Boy, warns the best middleweights on the planet: ‘They are about to go through eight or nine rounds of hell.’
Not that Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have ever been under any illusions about the ferocity awaiting them in the ring at the T-Mobile Arena tonight.
Not since the 27-year-old Mexican finally agreed to challenge the 35-year-old Kazakh power-puncher for his collection of world championship alpha-belts.
‘Supremacy,’ is the title of this epic collision and each is prepared to fight to oblivion if that is what it takes to assert mastery over this classic division.
Canelo says: ‘We will both have to take much punishment but I will enjoy it very much. I love fighting. It is my life.’
Golovkin said: ‘Neither of us know if he will be going home or to hospital, but as always I am ready to do my work. To take care of business.’
Both promise: ‘We will give people a beautiful fight.’
In this context, beauty is in the brutality. That is the expectation of the 20,000 crowd in the sold-out arena — going rate now $15,000 (£11,000) for a seat at ringside — and the pay-TV audience of millions who will festoon these gladiators with the most enriching purses of their careers. Canelo up to $35million (£25.8m), Golovkin around $25m (£18.4m).
They are likely to earn every cent the hard way. They give no quarter, their punches are like mule kicks and the contrasting manner in which each of them boxes should guarantee this one lives up to its billing as the fight of the decade.
Golovkin’s style is all-out attack, having knocked out no fewer than 33 of the 37 victims in his all-win career. Canelo is a counter-puncher supreme who will seize upon the openings presented by Golovkin’s approach. That method has brought Canelo 34 KOs in 49 victories, although there is that defeat by Floyd Mayweather and an irrelevant draw as a 15-year-old on his record.
The Mexican fans who will generate a patriotic atmosphere on this weekend of their Independence Day celebrations are trusting that their idol is catching Golovkin as he ages slightly into decline.
Yet this baby-faced assassin looks 35 going on 25 as he smiles down on the Vegas Strip from the giant images advertising his first fight in the boxing capital of the world. How does he feel about all that? ‘Interesting,’ he muses. ‘Nice face mine. Excited perhaps. But really another ring, another fight, another opponent in the other corner.’
But an opponent who, like himself, has never been put down, let alone knocked out. An opponent who has developed from world light-middleweight champion into not just a full-blown middleweight but a challenger likely to be even bigger than Golovkin on this night.
Canelo has bulked up so much in training that he is being forced to deny that he has had difficulty making the 160lb weight limit. There are suggestions, also, that he may ignore the stipulation of one of the championship bodies that neither man must put on more than 10 extra pounds come a second weight check on the morning of the fight.
If Canelo exceeds that 170lb specification the IBF would pronounce him ineligible to win their belt, then declare that title vacant should he beat Golovkin. Canelo might deem the accompanying fine worth paying since the WBC, WBA and IBO world titles would still be on the line. Golovkin takes a philosophical view. He says: ‘This is my fight. I am the champ. And I will still be the boss at the end.’
Canelo naturally sees it differently: ‘Every night as I go to bed I visualise myself knocking him out. And I will.’
History does beckon for the winner, perhaps elevation to a seat with the legendary middleweights, such as the Sugar Rays, Marvellous Marvin, Hitman Hearns and Stone-Hands Duran.
Clearly De La Hoya does not expect this to go to the judges. Nor do I, though this is likely to be viciously close in all its elements. Privately, Golovkin must expect that if the margins of the scoring are narrow he is less likely to be given the decision in front of a pro-Canelo crowd.
If that brings added urgency to the heaviest pound-for-pound punchers in the hardest game, Canelo may succumb to Golovkin’s power shortly before the scheduled end, in rounds 10 or 11.
MCanelo v Golovkin will be televised live on BoxNation Box Office.