Canelo aims to retire GGG in 'personal' duel

LOS ANGELES • Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez said his upcoming trilogy fight with long-time ring rival Gennady Golovkin is "personal", adding that he was hoping to end the Kazakhstan boxer's career.

Alvarez and Golovkin, known as "GGG", first met in 2017 and fought to a disputed draw. In the rematch in 2018, the Mexican won an even more controversial points decision that many observers thought could have gone the other way.

A money-spinning third instalment is scheduled to take place on Sept 17 in Las Vegas.

"Yeah, he's two different people, he pretends to be a nice guy here but he's not," Alvarez, 31, said on Friday in Los Angeles where the two men went nose-to-nose for nearly two minutes before the press conference got under way.

"Yeah, it's personal for me and this is the way I am. I don't pretend to be another person or say things in the media or other places and (then) come here and pretend I don't want to say anything...

"That's why he's special now. I just can't wait to be in the ring."

Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 knockouts) added that he would end Golovkin's career with a knockout, saying it was the "only way" he wanted to finish the fight.

However, Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 knockouts) downplayed any suggestion of animosity.

"If we take my opponent's achievements, I believe he did great," the 40-year-old said. "I'm a big fan of boxing, and from that standpoint I respect him a lot.

"As for him saying this is personal, I really don't understand what he's talking about as after the second fight we shook hands and I believe we put everything behind us back then.

"If he says he still has something against me, again, it's his problem not mine."

Alvarez, who holds all four major belts at super middleweight, stepped up to light heavyweight in May but was beaten by Russian Dmitry Bivol. Golovkin has won four consecutive fights since losing to Alvarez in 2018.

Golovkin's trainer Johnathon Banks refuted suggestions Alvarez would be affected by the Bivol loss.

"There's never a good time to fight Canelo," he said. "He's gonna bring the hardest fight to whoever he's in the ring with. Canelo is a world-class fighter. He's never been afraid of anybody."

REUTERS