Canelo Alvarez’s trainer said Gennadiy Golovkin wouldn’t survive to the final bell if he fights the Mexican star a third time.
Alvarez and Golovkin reportedly agreed before the coronavirus pandemic took hold to fight one another in the fall. Alvarez was tentatively scheduled to face Billy Joe Saunders on Cinco de Mayo weekend but that fight was postponed indefinitely.
Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer, said a third fight with Golovkin would probably be his protege’s last at 160 pounds. The trainer mentioned Saunders, Callum Smith, Caleb Plant and David Benavidez as possible opponents at super middleweight.
The rivals fought to a controversial split draw in September 2017 and Alvarez won a majority decision the following September.
Golovkin turned 38 on Wednesday.
“Without a doubt, if this fight happens, Canelo-Golovkin III, no doubt we’ll knock him out,” Reynoso told ESPN KnockOut. “We’ll look to take the fight to him like in the second one, from the start, try to push him back. But this time things are going to be very different.
“This time, we’re going to knock him out. That’s a promise to all the people who believe in us.”
Alvarez had hoped to fight three times this year but, Reynoso said, that is no longer a realistic plan.
“I think right now we’ll only be able to fit in two fights,” Reynoso said. “We want to fight Golovkin at 160 pounds. We’ll see afterward if there is something there at 160, and if not we’ll go up to 168. Canelo has been fine-tuning over the years, and we’re going to make a lot of noise at 168.”
Reynoso went on: “We’ll have to see how things go and then see how the economy is [when boxing resumes]. There are a lot of fighters who were left without fights. We’ll have to see what happens with them first as far as dates, so we’ll see how all of this pans … out.”