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The animosity between Gennadiy Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was significantly elevated in 2018 – after Canelo tested positive for banned substance Clenbuterol, which postponed their rematch.
Golovkin would call Canelo a cheater and questioned his past performances – including his ability to take big shots in their 2017 encounter which ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.
When the rematch finally happened, Canelo won a very close twelve round majority decision to capture the middleweight crown.
The trilogy fight takes place on September 17th, when Golovkin heads to 168-pounds to challenge Canelo for the undisputed super middleweight championship at the T-Mobile Arena.
Since their rematch, Canelo has unified the entire super middleweight division. He also briefly moved up to light heavyweight to capture a world title before dropping back to 168.
Golovkin respects Canelo’s accomplishments, but still questions whether or not the Mexican boxer was a clean fighter in those matchups.
Canelo is tested by VADA for all of his contests, and he’s also enrolled in the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program.
“I’m not that kind of person who’s going to belittle any athlete’s achievements and Canelo’s achieved a lot,” Golovkin said to the OC Counter Register.
“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.”
Canelo will aim to bounce back in the upcoming showdown, after suffering his first defeat since 2013. Back in May, Canelo was outboxed over twelve rounds by WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.