'I'll knock him out!' - Canelo promises to ice Triple G in trilogy, and he could be right

Middleweight king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has issued a message to rival Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin that he will “win again...even knock him out” should the two meet in a third fight. And on recent showing, he could be right.

Despite his boasts, the vast majority of boxing fans considered the Mexican extremely fortuitous to record a split draw against Golovkin when the two first met for the WBC, WBA, IBF and IBO titles in September 2017, most considering the Kazakh a clear winner.

In a rematch exactly a year later, Canelo handed Golovkin his first career loss in a majority decision victory although most spectators treated that decision with the same skepticism as that of the first.

In spite of the reaction to those decisions, Canelo oozed confidence when quizzed about a third meeting between the two, telling Mexican station TV Azteca, "I am the fighter to beat, the one everyone wants to face. Since he fought with me, Golovkin, what has he done? He hasn't done anything.”

"I already talked to [Golden Boy Promotions]. If they want me to fight with him, the only thing he represents is some business. If he does not represent a challenge, I will not do it. If they want the fight, break down the numbers to me and then maybe. I want another kind of challenge.

"[Golovkin] no longer represents any challenge. I beat him, I gave him 24 rounds and he could not [beat me]. What will happen in the third? I'm going to win again, I'll even knock him out."

And it may turn out that Canelo, despite his pride being perhaps a little undue given the contentious nature of their previous meetings, the WBC's 'franchise champion' could well be right in his boastful predictions.

It’s well known that a fighter will never be victorious in the fight against his biggest opponent: Father Time. Golovkin looked every minute of his 37 years against Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Saturday, shipping a heavy volume of blows from the rugged, busy Ukrainian former Olympian, although he did manage to register a first round knock down.

Reuters / Joe Camporeale

New York's Madison Square Garden has become a second home for Golovkin, having fought six of his championship bouts at the iconic arena, and a slight case could be made that he too benefited from some 'home cooking' on Saturday.

Final punch stats did however confirm that Golovkin shaded the number of total punches landed with 243 to Derevyanchenko’s 230 and was able to control the action by finding the target with more than twice the number of jabs at 107 to 47. 

The Ukrainian did land the more power punches, racking up a 183-136 advantage, but the overall scores were 472 to 314 in favor of the Kazakh. 

Reuters / Joe Camporeale

The harder, more precise blows, something of a trademark, did seem to come from ‘GGG’ and caught the judges’ eyes more than the pressure fighting from 33-year-old New York based Derevyanchenko, to hand the Kazakh the vacant IBF and IBO middleweight straps.

Derevyanchenko is an extremely hungry contender who, despite it being only his 14th pro fight, has pushed the division’s elite all the way and who would prove a handful for anybody in the 160 lbs division, so perhaps credit should first be given to a more than competent contender. But one thing is for sure - Golovkin wasn't the same fighter as he was against against Canelo.

Since handing 'GGG' his first career loss, Canelo went up to super middleweight to relieve an overmatched rocky Fielding of his WBA title, before coming back down to outpoint the very well-respected IBF middle champ Daniel Jacobs. In the midst of that, the 28-year-old also failed a pair of drugs tests, receiving a six-month ban.

Next up for Canelo is a jump up two weight divisions to face Russian light heavyweight KO-artist Sergey Kovalev for the WBO 175lbs belt. That in itself is a big ask but the next fight after that battle, regardless of its outcome, would most likely be a match with Golovkin in mid-2020.

Should Golovkin shows the same vulnerabilities he did against Derevyanchenko, in particular susceptibility to body attacks, Canelo could leave no doubt as to the winner in a third match, especially given his masterful execution of the infamous ‘Mexican liver punch’.

Golovkin is two fights into a six-fight deal with sports streaming giants DAZN, which saw him earn a whopping $15 million from the Derevyanchenko fight, meaning he will be around for a little longer and has plenty of time to make more cash in the long run. 

But if the one-time most feared man in the sport is to stand any chance of putting his demon to bed and finally beating Canelo, he had better take that chance sooner rather than later.