YOU COULD cut the tension with a knife as Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin stayed eerily silent during their face-off.
The two boxing legends will collide for a third time this weekend at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Mexican and Kazakhstan warriors were once friends but are now bitter enemies – although they kept a lid on their bad blood at the pre-fight press conference.
However, you could feel the dislike between the pair as they looked into each other’s eyes despite no hostile words being exchanged.
The first fight between them in 2017 ended in a draw before Canelo controversially won the second by a majority-decision.
The 40-year-old Golovkin’s titles are not on the line as he steps up to super-middleweight for the first time – although Canelo’s undisputed championship crown in the division is up for grabs.
Now he hopes to rectify the only two blemishes on his 44-fight career by finally downing his arch-rival.
Although Triple G, a two-time unified world middleweight champion, insists the result of Saturday’s fight will not have any bearing on his legacy.
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He said: “Without any doubt this fight is not going to affect my legacy. Name me a boxer who would not be happy with a career like mine with all my achievements?
“I do not feel any pressure and I do not think I need to prove anything to anybody.
“To me it’s just another fight, a fight people have been wanting to see for a long period of time and now it’s actually coming to reality.”
Meanwhile, Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso believes that Golovkin will not be ready for his ever-improving 32-year-old superstar.
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He said: “Canelo is better at everything since the last time he fought Triple G.
“I’m not being funny. He has improved with his conditioning, with his technique, with his toughness.
“He has more ways to beat you, and I’m not going to say what they are, but Triple G is probably not going to be ready for some of them.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
