Canelo and GGG End One of Boxing’s Fun Rivalries

Whether he fights Bivol next, or somebody else, it seems Álvarez’s future resides in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, one more reason his struggle with Golovkin is finally over. Golovkin has fought his entire career at middleweight — that’s what their first two bouts were contested at — and moved up to super middleweight only once, for Saturday’s fight. Their paths have diverged.

Golovkin said before the fight that he had many options no matter the outcome, perhaps anticipating what was next: Questions about retirement. “Remember, I’m still champion at 160,” he responded. “I come back, guys, I’m still champion.”

He then went and embraced Álvarez, a surprising act of post-fight equanimity. Their relationship at one point was professional or even warm — a much younger Álvarez sparred with Golovkin a few times at a training camp in Big Bear Lake, Calif. — but by the time of their second bout it had descended into acrimony. After the fight was delayed while Álvarez served a suspension for testing positive for clenbuterol (he blamed tainted meat he ate in Mexico and said he stopped eating beef) Golovkin called his onetime sparring partner a drug cheat.

“He’s not honest,” Álvarez told TMZ about Golovkin in the leadup to the fight. “He pretends to be a good person and be different, but he’s not.”

Maybe genuine animosity, or maybe just pre-fight smack talk designed to rile up fans. Whatever it was, the instant the bell rang for the final time the bad blood seemed to wash away.

“Thank you so much, my friend, thank you, Golovkin, thank you for everything,” Álvarez said while still inside the ring. “We gave the fans three good fights. Thank you for everything.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/sports/canelo-ggg-rivalry.html