A look at the September 15th rematch between middleweight boxing rivals Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
In just over two weeks, reigning unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) will rematch Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs), a year removed from their controversial split draw. Many fans and pundits believes Golovkin deserved the victory, and those who thought Alvarez had won certainly didn’t see it 118-110 like Adelaide Byrd did. This was a commercially successful boxing match, drawing the third-largest gate in the sport’s history, along with an estimated 1.5 million pay-per-view buys.
The immediate rematch was scheduled for May 5th of this year, but Alvarez’s failed drug test for clenbuterol cancelled the matchup. Golovkin wound up facing Vanes Martirosyan and won by second-round KO, while Canelo served his six-month ban. Tense negotiations followed for the rematch, which was under different circumstances due to Canelo’s positive drug test, and a “Hail Mary” negotiating move salvaged the fight for September 15th.
These two have turned into heated rivals, and perhaps their animosity could lead to an even better fight than their first.
Watch the video of “The story of Canelo vs. Golovkin” at the top of the page.
Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez 2 will be for Golovkin’s WBA and WBC titles. The rematch takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with HBO pay-per-view carrying the fight and other undercard action starting at a special start time of 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.