Often in boxing fights can be personal.
From my childhood, that fight was Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran I.
Duran made the fight about how Leonard was a spoiled American boxer that didn’t have the… ahem… manhood that he had. Duran insulted Leonard all throughout the press conferences leading up to their fight in Montreal. Heck, he even went after Leonard’s wife with comments that I won’t dare type.
Canelo Alvarez didn’t go that far yesterday but don’t get it twisted, his fights with Gennady Golovkin have been personal. Where it does resemble Leonard-Duran, is that the venom really exists on one side. In this case, it’s Canelo’s.
“He always pretends to be a nice guy, like in front of people,” Alvarez said. “He’s an a–hole, that’s what he is. He’s an a–hole. It is what it is. I don’t pretend to be nice. This is the way I am. I don’t pretend to be another person. He’s always pretending in front of you and people, ‘Oh, I’m a nice guy.’ He’s not.”
For 2022, that’s some really tough talk but will that be present in the ring.
Canelo is coming off the second loss of his career. Both losses, Canelo was thoroughly dominated. Floyd Mayweather Jr. outclassed Canelo and Dmitry Bivol dominated most of his fight with Canelo.
Canelo needed to make sure the fight that followed Bivol was one that would have him 100% engaged and motivated. That is what made the Golovkin fight a no-brainer for Canelo.
I’m a firm believer he wasn’t going to fight Golovkin a third time. In fact, it looked like a move right out of Leonard’s playbook. After Leonard loss, he demanded a quick rematch where he beat an out of shape Duran. After that, Leonard would stall out Duran for nine years to give him his rematch.
Alvarez-Golovkin I ended in a draw. The rematch went to Alvarez but the result was debated. No matter. Alvarez made it be known that there were bigger and better things ahead of him making Golovkin an after-thought.
The loss to Bivol changed that. Now Canelo needs Golovkin to help repair himself after being humbled. It was his only response.
