Canelo Alvarez dismisses knee injury in conference call for GGG fight
Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin fight in September in a rematch. Both took part in a media conference call to discuss the fight.
Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) are preparing for their long-awaited rematch. Since their last fight, Canelo has tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol and harsh words have been spoken between the two camps. They recently took part in a media conference call to discuss the fight.
In April, Canelo underwent arthroscopic knee injury. TheRing.com reported the reason for Canelo’s surgery: “During the procedure, the internal femoral cartilage was repaired, per Alvarez, and the surgeon eliminated a pathological fold on his right knee.”
In June, TMZ published a story which included video of Canelo training. The video shows Canelo working the mitts with his trainer, but he’s also wearing a sleeve on his right knee. Fans in internet groups and on social media started to speculate that Alvarez might not be recovered.
During the media call, FanSided asked Canelo about the concerns regarding his right knee.
“It’s a brace just to support,” Alvarez said. “I’ve been training really hard. It’s part of rehabilitation. That’s not going to be a problem. Trust me.”
It will be interesting to see if Canelo is still wearing the brace when he steps in the ring with Golovkin on Sept. 15.
Canelo and Golovkin fought to a draw in their first fight. According to CompuBox (via SI.com), Golovkin out-landed Canelo by 49 punches and threw 198 more. FanSided asked Canelo if he feels he needs to step up his work rate in the rematch.
“Yes, that’s part of the plan, part of what we’re working on,” Alvarez said. “We know what we have to do. We have to throw more punches and that’s what we’re going to do. To win fights, you have to throw punches, and that’s what I do in all my fights.”
If Canelo throws as many punches as Golovkin did in their first fight, fans can expect an all-out slugfest.
Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, has been a vocal critic of Canelo’s. Canelo feels a lot of animosity towards Sanchez and all of Team Golovkin.
“They disrespected me,” Alvarez said. “Now it’s different. Now it’s personal.”
Next: Alex Saucedo stops Lenny Zappavigna in bloodbath
There’s plenty of bad blood and drama heading into the Canelo/GGG rematch. We’ll see who has their hand raised victoriously in September. You can watch the full press conference on the Golden Boy Promotions Facebook page.