Golovkin not done throwing jabs in the ring or at Alvarez
Gennadiy Golovkin gained notoriety for his historic knockout streak and became a fan favorite of Mexican boxing fans for labeling his aggressive approach as “Mexican style.”
The fighter from Kazakhstan with memorable one-liners sold out events at the Forum, Madison Square Garden in New York and the O2 Arena in London. “The Big Drama Show” was a hit worldwide and then suddenly the middleweight terror become a middle-aged man.
Golovkin wasn’t planning on fighting at 40 and he likely didn’t expect to wait four years for a trilogy bout with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Everything changed for Golovkin after Alvarez left the ring in Las Vegas as the winner of the rematch with a majority decision.
Golovkin had his first career loss and the 23-fight knockout streak was a distant memory, as the rockstar-type fame slowly faded over a four-year wait.
“When he behaved in an unpredictable and illogical manner, at some point, I stopped believing that we were going to see each other in the ring again,” Golovkin said through a translator. “I stopped thinking about that fight and forgot about that. I realized that he was going to come to me again probably when I’m 50, but this fight is taking place now.”
Golovkin is accustomed to waiting after spending his prime years scaring off opponents with his knockout highlights. Eventually, Alvarez stepped up and they delivered two thrilling middleweight title bouts, but in the sport of boxing, controversial scorecards tend to overshadow the memorable fights.
Many ringside writers and boxing pundits had Golovkin as the winner of both fights, but all Golovkin had to show was a 2018 loss and a 2017 split draw with an absurd scorecard of 118-110 in favor of Alvarez. Scorecards, however, are subjective and Alvarez winning the competitive bouts was far from a robbery, but Golovkin had done enough to at least receive a third shot without the lengthy wait.
Golovkin’s wait is scheduled to end Sept. 17 in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, where the first two fights took place. Golovkin said it’s probably not his last fight because he wants to have one in Kazakhstan, but he mentioned that his days of being an active fighter with multiple bouts a year likely ended when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
“I still have a lot of plans,” Golovkin said. “I still have big plans. There is my home country of Kazakhstan where I believe I need a fight. And on one side, I can say that I retired some time ago when the pandemic began, you know, with the active part of my career. But on the other hand, I still have some class in the world of boxing. So, you’ll see me.”
Speaking of class, Golovkin might say Alvarez doesn’t have much of it because of the way he’s handled many aspects of their rivalry, including negotiations for finalizing the three fights. Alvarez, 32, would likely say the same about Golovkin because of Golovkin’s remarks in the past four years.
The animosity between the two former sparring partners started after Golovkin called Alvarez a cheater for testing positive for a banned substance that postponed their rematch in 2018. Alvarez claimed it was tainted meat that triggered the positive test, but Golovkin didn’t buy it and never retracted his comments.
“I’m not that kind of person who’s going to belittle any athlete’s achievements and Canelo’s achieved a lot,” Golovkin said. “But there are some other questions about how he did that and what he used. I did not say something just because I just came up with it. There are lab results. The doctor said that there were the results of water testing. And when asked, I said, ‘Yes, I believe that he cheated.’ And if somebody in his team didn’t like my words, I believe it’s their problem.”
Golovkin rarely misses opportunities to criticize Alvarez, but he does have respect for the Mexican star for stepping into the ring when others shied away. That could explain why Golovkin had tamed verbal jabs for Alvarez after losing to Dmitry Bivol in May.
Alvarez challenged himself by fighting a bigger opponent in Bivol at light heavyweight and he became the undisputed champion at super middleweight. Golovkin respects Alvarez’s boldness and perhaps waiting four years could be worth it if he’s able to take Alvarez’s super middleweight titles.
“I was certain that our fight was going to take place and it didn’t bother me,” Golovkin said about Alvarez’s loss to Bivol. “And I was happy with the fact that with this loss, he sort of brought himself back to reality or he was brought back to reality. He was somewhere in the clouds and now I’m hoping that our fight is going to be somewhat down to earth.”