Gennady Golovkin thinks Canelo Alvarez 's change in behaviour towards him ahead of their trilogy fight is a result of his failed drug test in 2018.
Alvarez defends his super-middleweight titles against Golovkin on September 17 as the rivals meet for a third time in Las Vegas. The trilogy comes four years after Alvarez won a majority decision in their rematch, with the pair fighting to a draw the year before that. Both of the fights between Alvarez and Golovkin have ended in controversial decisions as the pair look for a more decisive result in their trilogy.
Before his first and second fights against 'Triple G', Alvarez was seemingly on good terms with his opponent. Heading into the third fight has been a much different story, with Alvarez labelling Golovkin a " f****ng a**hole " and accusing him of being fake. Golovkin thinks Alvarez's outbursts are because of his two positive tests for the banned substance clenbuterol in 2018, which landed him a six-month suspension.
"I don’t even know how to explain it," Golovkin said of Alvarez's outbursts to Boxing Scene. "Maybe it’s just the side effects of certain substances in the body. But I treat it as a sporting event, nothing personal. But the words that he chooses to say are unexplainable. Inexplicable."
Alvarez claimed that he tested positive for the substance after eating contaminated meat in Mexico, stating that he didn't willingly cheat. "I didn't do anything intentionally. I didn't do anything to try to enhance my performance. I would never do anything like that. It was a mistake and nothing more, not educating myself about this problem in Mexico," he said.
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Golovkin has only fought four times in the past four years whilst Alvarez has competed eight times during that period. Golovkin was doubtful a trilogy with Alvarez would ever happen because of issues surrounding the fight and despite turning 40 this year, the Kazakh said he has no plans of retirement just yet.
"At some point I stopped hoping that this fight was going to take place because there were certain obligations, contractual obligations, that were broken, there were some legal issues that came about, and then the pandemic began. I have three belts at 160lb, so the victory or the loss in this upcoming fights not going to affect my decision about when to retire. It’s about being honest with myself, listening to my body and to my mind."
