Boxing superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has decided to honor his original word and have a trilogy fight with Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin.
The fight was announced by streaming service DAZN for Sept. 17, Mexican Independence Day weekend, as a DAZN pay-per-view broadcast in the U.S.
The news comes on the heels of Alvarez’s unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight on May 7. It was the second loss of Alvarez’s career where he was chasing another title at light heavyweight. He previously defeated Sergey Kovalev at the weight via eleventh round KO in 2019.
Canelo Alvarez plans to fight Gennady Golovkin in September to defend his super middleweight titles, per @ChavaESPN 🍿
He will then look toward a rematch with Dmitry Bivol pic.twitter.com/moIkJKvd62
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 23, 2022
The Trilogy
“I feel very happy and proud to be able to give the best fights, and this fight won’t be an exception,” said Alvarez.
The fight, contested at super middleweight, is for Alvarez’s undisputed titles. Back in November, Alvarez scored a huge TKO over Caleb Plant to become the first-ever undisputed super middleweight champion. Now he is facing the Kazakh who pushed Alvarez hard in their first fight, which yielded a split decision draw back in 2017.
“Let’s push ahead without going backwards,” Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso said via statement. “A Mexican never surrenders, let’s push forward.”
Opportunity Zone
A few months ago, the Canelo team agreed to make the trilogy against GGG as part of a two-fight deal with Matchroom Sports head Eddie Hearn and DAZN. Alvarez has been traversing the broadcast and streaming worlds making fights with everyone from Premier Boxing Champions and SHOWTIME, where he KO’d Caleb Plant, to Hearn and DAZN.
Rematching GGG, a tough-as-nails opponent that gave Canelo no quarter in both of their highly contested fights, comes on the back end of a loss to Dimitry Bivol. Facing GGG next is a risky proposition for his legacy.
‼️ Canelo Alvarez has now indicated that he will take the Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight next, then look to rematch Dmitry Bivol. Canelo would be moving back down to super-middleweight and defending his undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO world titles vs GGG on Sept 17th.
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 23, 2022
Must-Win Proposition
“We know that Canelo went up to 175, it was a big ask, but he was expected to win that fight,” Eddie Hearn said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “He has to win this fight. If he loses to GGG on Sept. 17, where do you go from there?
“Back-to-back defeats against two different fighters, this time with almost no excuse. The toughest thing for Canelo in this fight is to bounce back from that defeat. He was devastated to lose to Bivol.”
During their fight in May, Bivol pushed Canelo with punches in bunches, taking his power and leaving Canelo looking confused as his usual dominance was nonexistent. Bivol silenced the pro-Canelo crowd in Las Vegas, adding a massive win to his undefeated record.
Bivol On The Brain
However, although Canelo initially accepted the loss, he backtracked, saying he won the fight and leaving speculation that he would activate the rematch clause with Bivol when asked if he wanted to run it back.
“Of course I do,” Alvarez said during the post-fight interview. “This can’t end like this.”
On Monday, Alvarez reportedly gave a glimpse into his fight lineup at a golf tournament in Mexico. It seems Alvarez has GGG in mind first, then to avenge his loss to Bivol.
THE TRILOGY IS ON 😱@Canelo vs. @GGGBoxing… the biggest fight in boxing, Sept. 17.#CaneloGGG3
Live on https://t.co/FoiaUucI53 worldwide, excl. Latin America, Mexico & Kazakhstan |
DAZN PPV in US & Canada pic.twitter.com/5oud9Suhv7— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 24, 2022
Man With The Plans
“We already had that contract [with Golovkin], that agreement, so we have to continue what we started, and I think those are the two biggest fights in boxing, the fight with Golovkin and the rematch with Bivol,” Alvarez said in translated comments via Fight FreaksUnite.
“Unfortunately, we lost [to Bivol], but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try again. The important thing here is perseverance, and we’re going to do it again.”
