Gennady Golovkin has vowed to ‘punish’ Canelo Alvarez in their eagerly-anticipated showdown.
Golovkin - the unified WBA, WBC, and IBO middleweight champion - will rematch Alvarez a week on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The pair’s first meeting ended in a controversial split draw, though the general consensus among viewers and pros is that Kazakstan native Golovkin did more than enough to win the contest.
A rematch between two of the pound-for-pound best fighters on the planet was in major doubt following Canelo’s positive drug test in February - which saw him test positive for clenbuterol and handed a retroactive six-month suspension - and prolonged negotiations.
The fight eventually came together in June, but only after a series of taunts from Canelo and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
“I want to have a fight and punish him for all the bad things that he and his team have done – to size him down and put them in their place.”
Golovkin’s coach Abel Sanchez insists ‘GGG’s’ eagerness to punish Canelo doesn’t stem from any anger towards the former Ring and lineal middleweight champion.
“He’s not angry,” Sanchez said. “He’s got a purpose in the gym and he’s got a purpose of what he wants to do inside the ring.
“Canelo’s done some things that he feels he needs to pay for, and he’ll do that in the ring.
“In the gym, it’s just another day training in the gym. He’s the same guy that he was before. He trains hard.
“Just his mentality for this fight seems to be very, very focused on trying to punish Canelo, as he was when he fought [Curtis] Stevens.
Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) has 20 straight defenses in the division and is tied with Bernard Hopkins for the record. Hopkins made 20 middleweight title defenses between 1994 and 2005.
Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs), now campaigning as a full-fledged 160-pound middleweight, hasn't lost a fight since dropping a majority decision against Floyd Mayweather in 2013.
