Canelo Alvarez is set to accept a trilogy with Gennady Golovkin for his next bout instead of rematching Dmitry Bivol.
Alvarez suffered his first loss in almost a decade when he was outpointed by light heavyweight champion Bivol last month. The Mexican was returning to 175lbs for the first time in three years but lost a unanimous decision to the unbeaten Russian.
The undisputed super-middleweight king revealed that his deal to face Golovkin in September was already in place before losing to Bivol, so he plans to stick to that plan and face 'Triple G' on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
"Surely yes," he said at a recent press conference about fighting Golovkin next. "We already had that contract, that deal 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.
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"Unfortunately we lost [against 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."
Alvarez accepted a two-fight $85million (£68m) deal from Matchroom Boxing earlier this year that began with a light heavyweight title shot against Bivol before a third clash with Golovkin. The Mexican was also offered a one-fight deal from PBC and Showtime to face middleweight champion Jermall Charlo.
The terms of Alvarez's deal stated that he Golovkin will fight for a third time on September 17, almost four years to the exact date that Alvarez won a majority decision against the Kazakh in their controversial rematch.
Alvarez and Golovkin first fought to a split draw in 2017, with judge Adelaide Byrd being heavily criticised for her 118-110 scorecard in favour of Alvarez. Their trilogy encounter is not yet official, but Alvarez expects it to be announced in the coming days.
"What is certain is that we return in September and these days, today, tomorrow, the day after, we are going to announce the fight, only we have to wait a little bit," he continued.
Golovkin returned to the ring for the first time in 18 months in April, when he knocked out Ryota Murata to win the WBA middleweight title. Alvarez dismissed his rival's win by stating he's never been impressed by anything 'Triple G' has done.
