Mexican boxer Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez called his middleweight rival, Kazakh Gennady Golovkin, a “hypocrite” as his war of words escalated before next month’s rematch in Las Vegas.
World middleweight king Golovkin and Alvarez will step into the ring at the T-Mobile Arena on September 15, a year after their long-awaited first meeting ended in a controversial draw.
A planned rematch in May was called off when Álvarez failed a doping test in March.
Hostility between the two sides has simmered ever since, and on Sunday the two men exchanged bodily and verbal blows in comments to reporters in open training in front of fans at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.
Alvarez, 28, said the bad blood between the two made it unlikely that he would ever form a friendship with Golovkin once the fight was over.
“That would be very difficult for me,” Álvarez said. All the things that have been said. For me, personally, it is very difficult to leave the door open, “he added.
Alvarez also refrained when asked to comment on Golovkin’s frequent claim that his trademark aggressive style had made him popular with Mexican boxing fans.
He is a hypocrite. Maybe use it to attract fans. If something tragic happened in Mexico, he would not be there.
Alvarez, who fought capriciously in the first fight 12 months ago, which most neutrals believe Golovkin should have won, also rejected suggestions that his opponent had a more “Mexican” boxing style.
«There have been many fighters from Mexico who have different styles. My style is mine, I am Mexican. He does not know what I have left to show, “he added.
Coach Eddy Reynoso also got into the verbal fuss, saying the 36-year-old Golovkin had little room for improvement.
“At 36 years of age there is nothing else that you can teach this guy,” he said. “But they have taught him to be silent.”
Meanwhile, Golovkin accused Alvarez of disrespecting boxing for his failed clenbuterol doping test, which the Mexican camp attributed to tainted meat.
“Right now I feel a little different,” Golovkin said. «It is not only sport, not only business. Is special. Because his team doesn’t respect the people of boxing. This whole situation was terrible. AFP