LAS VEGAS — This weekend’s rematch between Gennady "GGG" Golovkin and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has the sentiment of an EPMD album. The Brentwood, N.Y., hip-hop duo of Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith released an album in 1992 titled "Business Never Personal" — which is the mentality GGG has expressed throughout its promotion. If Golovkin is angry, you’d never be able to tell.
Reading between the lines, however, you can gain some insight into how badly he wants this fight.
Although everything between the two sides has been extraordinarily contentious ever since the night of Sept. 16, 2017, when their highly anticipated first fight ended in a disappointing split draw, Golovkin has maintained that he harbors no ill will toward his opponent. He says he’s not upset about Canelo's failed drug test, Canelo stating that he won the first fight, or the public back-and-forth between the two teams before they finally agreed to a deal at the 24th hour.
Well, at least he tells people that he's not bothered.
“I feel nothing,” Golovkin said Tuesday after greeting fans for the grand arrivals that took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He shrugged his shoulders to suggest that he isn't concerned with the failed test that forced the scheduled May 5 rematch to be postponed.
Golovkin has said he doesn't believe the clenbuterol that was found in Canelo’s system was a byproduct of accidentally ingesting tainted Mexican meat; he repeated his disbelief Tuesday, calling the claim "nonsense." Between that and the accusations of Canelo injecting something foreign into his body before the first fight, you would think that Golovkin would be carrying a bit more emotion heading into this fight week.
Instead, he was all smiles as he spoke to media about his upcoming clash.
The mild-mannered Kazakh with life-altering punching power rarely wears his feelings on his sleeve; instead, you are forced to read between the lines when trying to learn how he truly feels about his opponent. Some may blame that on the fact Golovkin’s English is still a work in progress, but perhaps in this case he just doesn't want the world to know how much he desires to punch a hole through Canelo's frame.
"After the doping scandal, I lost respect for Canelo," Golovkin said: "I'm just a fighter. It's not political. It's only business."
His trainer, Abel Sanchez, shares that sentiment, to a degree, but it's clear he's visibly bothered by how this has played out. His poker face isn't nearly as good as his fighter's.
"This is business, but it was personal when he insulted us," Sanchez told Sporting News. "I would have liked for Canelo's team to have come to us when he failed the drug test and let us know that the fight may not happen instead of waiting until the last minute."
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In a recent blog post, Canelo called Sanchez a “dumbass” for suggesting that Canelo opted to “run” instead of standing and fighting in the first fight. That has clearly gotten under his skin, but Sanchez refuses to resort to public mudslinging and prefers for Golovkin's fists to do the talking. The duo promise that there will be nothing left to interpretation after the bell rings inside T-Mobile Arena.
"I'm ready for anybody," Golovkin said. "I'm ready for him whether he is doped up or not."
There is some concern whether Canelo, who utilized movement in the first fight, will change his strategy and trade punches with Golovkin in the rematch. When asked what Canelo did in the first fight that surprised him more than anything else, Golovkin kept his response simple: "He ran."
He smiled coyly after delivering the punchline, which was a hit because everyone erupted with laughter. Then Golovkin got serious for a moment.
“I want to state it very strongly that I don’t care about (whether he knowingly used drugs). I'm ready to fight," GGG said. Now that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has cleared him, Golovkin will meet Canelo in the middle of the ring and settle their differences.
Maybe the EPMD album that correctly sums up this fight isn't the 1992 one; instead, it feels as though Sermon and Smith’s 1989 album "Unfinished Business" is appropriate here. If you hit "Play" on the duo’s second studio album, you'll find a song titled "The Big Payback" that encapsulates exactly how Golovkin envisions this fight. Like everything else, though, you have to dig beneath the surface to find those true feelings.
