Golovkin heavier for Alvarez rematch
LAS VEGAS: Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez faced off for the final time ahead of their eagerly awaited rematch here Friday (Saturday in Manila) as they comfortably made the weight for their middleweight grudge match.
Kazakh fighter Golovkin, the defending WBA, WBC and IBO champion, tipped the scales slightly heavier at 159.6 pounds (72.4 kgs) before a crowd of several thousand fans at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena.
Canelo Alvarez (left) and WBC/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin are held back after facing off during their official weigh-in at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday. AFP PHOTO
Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 knockouts) meanwhile weighed in at 159.4 pounds, well within the 160lb limit, before turning to face Golovkin.
Members of both entourages quickly got between the two fighters to head off a physical confrontation after Alvarez appeared to step into Golovkin.
Golovkin, (38-0-1, 34 knockouts), is chasing a record-breaking 21st consecutive defence of his middleweight crown when he faces Alvarez again on Saturday.
Saturday’s 12-round battle comes almost a year to the day after the two fighters battled to a controversial draw in their first encounter.
A planned rematch for May 5 was cancelled after Alvarez twice tested positive for the banned performance enhancer Clenbuterol in February and was subsequently hit with a six-month suspension.
Alvarez blamed the test results on eating contaminated meat in his native Mexico.
AFP
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