Alvarez, Triple G promise knockout of a fight

LAS VEGAS — Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez had to follow a circus to town the first time they met a year ago.

The clown show by Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Conor McGregor a few weeks earlier cast a long shadow on a middleweight title bout that turned out to be quite a show itself. Golovkin and Alvarez put on a real fight that had a little bit of everything — except a winner.

The two return on September 16, (Phl time) for a rematch on the Las Vegas Strip that might be even better. The 160pound titles are at stake once again as the two fighters try to settle what they couldn’t in last September’s draw.

And this time it’s personal.

A failed drug test by Alvarez didn’t just postpone the rematch from the original date in May. It sparked a debate that left Golovkin openly questioning an excuse about contaminated meat in Mexico and whether Alvarez was clean for their first fight.

“I don’t believe all his stories about contaminated meat,” Golovkin said this week. “I think it’s all nonsense. I don’t like to hear his nonsense stories about contaminated meat.”

Luckily for Golovkin, he hasn’t had to listen. He and Alvarez have shared a room only once since the fight was announced — at Wednesday’s final prefight press conference — and Alvarez is so upset about Golovkin’s comments that he refused to do a traditional faceoff with Triple G for photographers.