Saturday’s showdown always seemed both inevitable and necessary, because the first two meetings didn’t truly resolve anything about one of the best rivalries of this era.
AP Sports Writer
“We had two great fights, and we shook hands,” Golovkin said through an interpreter. “But we still have business.” Álvarez and Golovkin are meeting as super middleweights this time, with Golovkin moving up from 160 to 168 pounds for the first time in his career. Álvarez collected all four major 168-pound world titles in a one-year span ending late last year, and his comfort at the higher weight is a factor in his favor.
Four years later, it’s tough to tell whether either fighter is still at the peak of the powers they demonstrated in 2018. Golovkin said he has no plans to retire, and his focus is on avenging the only loss in the professional career of a gifted puncher who first turned heads in the Athens Olympics for Kazakhstan and then finally became a global star after he moved to California a decade ago.
“It’s just how I feel in the fight,” Golovkin said. “If I see that I can dominate using my power, I do that. If I see that I need to rely on my speed, I do that. I will do whatever it takes. I think he will, too.”Although four years are an eternity in sports, Álvarez still remembers every round of his two fights with Golovkin. He recalls every tactical decision and momentum shift during those now-distant meetings with arguably his greatest rival.
Since they last met, both fighters’ trainers say they’ve made fundamental changes to the ways they prepare and compete in their dangerous sport. Golovkin has a new trainer and is bulking up to 168 pounds after 16 years as a middleweight, while Álvarez is newly humbled and motivated coming off a loss to light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol this year.
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