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SPORTS Friday 15 September 2017

Alvarez sees a KO and a great fight against Triple G

By TIM DAHLBERG in his last fight, while Alva- wasn’t ready for the de-
AP Boxing Writer rez is a masterful counter- fensive master.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Canelo puncher who is not afraid “Most definitely I was too
Alvarez was just Saul Alva- to mix it up. young and it showed,” Al-
rez back then, a red-haired Between them they have varez said through an inter-
15-year-old who wanted only one loss in 88 fights. preter. “I don’t take it to-
nothing more than to make Alvarez suffered it in 2013 day as a defeat but as an
some money boxing. against Floyd Mayweather experience. I learned a lot
He got his chance on a Jr. in a fight he admitted he from that fight.”
summer night in 2005 in a took too early in his career. In Golovkin, Alvarez will be
suburb of Guadalajara, By contrast, he may have fighting a boxer who hasn’t
Mexico, where he grew waited until just the right lost since the gold medal
up. His opponent was an- time to fight Golovkin. Al- match in the 2004 Olym-
other teenager named varez and his promoter, pics.
Abraham Gonzalez, but he Oscar De La Hoya, were He’ll also be facing a slug- Canelo Alvarez speaks during a news conference Wednesday,
could have been anyone. widely criticized for avoid- ger who has 33 knockouts Sept. 13, 2017, in Las Vegas.
Alvarez showed some po- ing Golovkin for the last two in 37 fights and is defend- Associated Press
tential by stopping Gon- years, but now Alvarez has ing his middleweight titles and destroy and he comes Marvin Hagler and Hagler
zalez in fourth round. After- grown into a full-fledged for the 19th time. in search of a knockout,” against Sugar Ray Leonard.
ward he collected his first middleweight and both But Golovkin looked some- Alvarez said. “You know Leonard posted a video on
real payday. fighters seem to be in their what vulnerable in his last me, I don’t back down. I’m Twitter this week giving his
“Eighty pesos,” Alvarez re- prime. fight, where he went 12 a counter puncher and I thoughts on the outcome.
called this week. “I think it There shouldn’t be many rounds with Danny Jacobs. like to fight. It has all the in- “I give a slight edge to Tri-
was like $6.” surprises. And there will cer- He won, but the fight that gredients to be one of the ple G because of his sheer
A dozen years later, the tainly be no excuses. may have convinced De best fights ever.”Whether punching power with both
pay has gotten a lot bet- “My mentality is 100 per- La Hoya to risk his most the fight will deliver the hands,” Leonard said.
ter. On Saturday night Al- cent to win,” Alvarez said. marketable fighter against classic everyone expects “Canelo has to fight the
varez will make millions as “Every night before I go to Triple G. remains to be seen. But it best fight of his life, just like
he meets knockout spe- bed I visualize a knockout.” No one on either side ex- has brought talk of great when I fought Hagler. I had
cialist Gennady Golovkin Alvarez has been on the pects it to be easy. middleweight fights from to be technically sharp,
in a middleweight show- big stage before. He and “He has a very aggressive the 1980s, including Tommy strategically sharp and
down that boxing purists Mayweather delivered style. He comes to search Hearns versus Marvelous smart.”q
are comparing to some of more than 2 million pay-
the division’s great fights of per-view buys in their fight, UFC strips Jones, reinstates
years past . and he has consistently
Some 40 million of his coun- drawn big crowds and big Cormier as 205-pound champion
trymen are expected to be television numbers over the
watching on television as last five years. LOS ANGELES (AP) — The round stoppage at UFC 214 held the light heavyweight
the fighter who is arguably He’s done beer commer- UFC has stripped its light in Anaheim, California. Last title for most of the previous
Mexico’s biggest sports cials with Sylvester Stallone, heavyweight title from Jon month, USADA announced two years while Jones was
hero takes on the fearsome collected multi-million dol- Jones for a third time and Jones had violated the largely sidelined by disci-
Golovkin in a fight that lar purses, and established reinstated Daniel Cormier UFC’s doping policy with plinary issues.The 30-year-
could define the career of himself as the latest in a as the 205-pound cham- a second positive test. old Jones could face a four-
both fighters. The fight will long succession of aggres- pion after Jones’ latest The California commission year suspension from the
be televised on HBO pay- sive Mexican fighters. failed doping test.The made its no-contest ruling California commission for
per-view in the U.S. If he can beat Golovkin — mixed martial arts promo- after Jones’ backup sam- his second failed test, but
“This is for my country and and he’s a slight underdog tion announced its deci- ple also failed a U.S. Anti- his representatives have in-
my people,” Alvarez said. — he’ll have a handful of sion Wednesday after the Doping Agency test for dicated he is expected to
“Simply put, the people championship belts and a California State Athletic the same substance, the appeal the result by argu-
wanted this fight.” signature win that will reso- Commission changed banned steroid Turinabol. ing that it resulted from a
It won’t be a fight for the nate throughout the sport. the result of Jones’ victory Cormier (19-1) has never contaminated nutritional
faint of heart. Golovkin had It’s something he thought over Cormier on July 29 to lost to any opponent ex- supplement, a defense
a 23-fight knockout streak would happen if he beat a no-contest.Cormier lost cept Jones (22-1), the that has worked in previous
before going the distance Mayweather, but at 23, he the belt to Jones in a third- troubled UFC star. Cormier MMA doping cases. q