Canelo, GGG make weight

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin on Friday made weight for Saturday’s DAZN Pay-Per-View main event, the third and likely final bout of their trilogy.

Thousands crowded Toshiba Plaza in front of T-Mobile Arena on the fifth anniversary of Canelo-GGG I to get a look at the two combatants who could perhaps represent the last great boxing rivalry.

Hours earlier at the closed-door official weigh-in at the MGM Grand, Alvarez checked in at 167.4 pounds for his first defense of the undisputed super middleweight title and unified middleweight titlist Golovkin, who is moving up in weight for the first time, tipped the scales at a career-high 167.8 pounds.

Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) won the undisputed championship last November 6 when he stopped Caleb Plant in the 11th round in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event at MGM Grand Garden Arena. He moved up in weight this past May to challenge WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol but lost a one-sided unanimous decision.

Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Japan's Ryota Murata to unify two 160-pound championship belts.

Their first fight in September 2017 was declared a split draw in one of the most controversial decisions in recent memory. boxing history. Most thought Golovkin, who retained the unified middleweight title, clearly won. After Alvarez failed two drug tests and was handed a six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the pair met again, but this time Alvarez won a close majority decision to end GGG’s middleweight title reign in another scintillating affair.

Four years later, the bad blood has yet to simmer, and perhaps it never will. However, Sept. 17 offers another opportunity for both fighters to claim that coveted, conclusive victory.

The 32-year-old Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), of Mexico, has expressed his desire to knock out Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), 40, a Kazakhstan native based out of Santa Monica, California, who has never been knocked down in 394 combined amateur/professional fights, for the entirety of their rivalry. But Alvarez is not backing down from his long-sought goal.

“That’s what I want but I know it’s not going to be easy,” Alvarez said. “He’s a great figher and I want to finish him within 12 rounds, and I’ll be looking for that from the very first round.”

Asked about Alvarez’s plans, GGG kept it short.

“No comments,” he said, later adding after acknowledging Mexican Independence Day, “If you’re a real boxing fan you know who’s the real champion.”