Canelo plotting Vegas vengeance
Every night before he goes to sleep, Canelo Alvarez closes his eyes and visualises himself knocking out Gennady Golovkin in boxing’s most bitter grudge match since Muhammad Ali battered Joe Frazier in the final act of their brutal trilogy. From the Thrilla in Manila in 1975 we come to the Vengeance in Vegas — Alvarez and Golovkin will bring their resentment to the boil this weekend. Canelo foresees their rematch ending as badly for Triple G as it did for smokin’ Joe. since the deal was made for them to settle the controversy of their first fight, the Mexican has been playing the trailer of impending victory in his mind. He says: ‘each night I visualise what is coming. I see myself building towards the knockout. Inevitable. Then I go to sleep. Content.’ It bothers Alvarez not at all that Golovkin, whose unified world middleweight titles he covets, envisages the same, but for himself. However, Canelo really is dreaming as he looks back on himself as the one hard done by when a panel of officials presented him with a draw last year. Most accept Golovkin’s testimony, that in reality he kept his titles by a distance. But that is only the start of an increasingly nasty argument. Alvarez blamed the two failed drugs tests which forced this second bout to be postponed on his innocent devouring of contaminated meat. Golovkin said: ‘I don’t believe that. nor do the pharmaceutical people.’ Canelo added: ‘I’ve reviewed my mistakes in the first fight. I win (this fight) without doubt.’ But before that, the weighin and another chance to exchange glances after refusing to at the press conference. not that they are likely to. The only place they cannot avoid close contact will be in the ring.
Golovkin v Canelo will be televised live in the early hours of Sunday morning on BT Sports Box Office. GREAT BRITAIN’s simon Yates kept his La Vuelta lead of 25 seconds as Jelle Wallays enjoyed a breakaway win in yesterday’s 18th stage in Lleida. Yates shadowed rival Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and now only two stages remain before sunday’s finish in Madrid.