In a media scrum following his grand arrival in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez fields media questions about the upcoming rematch as well as the repeated claims Golovkin has made about seeing needle marks on his body in their first meeting.
Canelo on using his anger with Golovkin to fuel him in the ring:
“It can be dangerous to go in there wit a hot head, you might make a mistake. But I have the experience where I can do it intelligently. I can get in the ring and use it intelligently in this fight.”
On saying that he didn’t think Golovkin’s punches live up to his reputation:
“Look, Eddie [Reynoso] will get in there and it’s been a custom of his to ask me ‘how do you feel?’ and the first thing that came to my head was ‘I don’t feel him that strong.’”
On how hard he has to train to try to throw more punches in this rematch:
“After this first fight I saw the errors that I made and I saw what I have to do. In the first fight he didn’t really land hard shots on me, maybe two or three punches, but most of the shots that were landed were jabs. And I felt that when I won the rounds it was by me landing hard shots. Now when I lost the rounds it was more because I was defending and moving — that’s why I lost those rounds.”
On if he was surprised by the 118-110 score in his favor in the first fight:
“I personally felt that I won seven rounds of the fight clean...one person may see it one way, another person may see it the other way, but I respect the judges decision...”
On Golovkin saying he saw needle injection marks on his body leading into their first fight:
“Those are the kicks and screams of someone who is drowning. Those are the excuses they are making for what is coming this Saturday, which is a loss for them. Look, I’ve been monitored for most of my career, I’ve been monitored by VADA since 2011, and that’s why they have authorities. If I would’ve had something the authorities would’ve picked it up. But basically it’s an excuse for what is coming on Saturday...”