Canelo will fight Gennadiy Golovkin in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The main card starts at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific), while preliminary fights begin at 5 p.m. Alvarez and Golovkin could fight around 11 p.m. Eastern, depending on previous fights.
In the U.S. and much of the world, excluding Latin America, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN, a sports streaming service that has struggled to garner viewers.
Current DAZN customers will pay $65, but non-subscribers will pay $85 with a month of DAZN included. Cable and satellite providers also sell the battle.
Watch TV Azteca in Mexico.
As befits a boxing trilogy, what seems like a straightforward battle — Golovkin, a strong favorite, cashing in on Golovkin’s interest — is everything but.
Both Alvarez and Golovkin (nicknamed “GG”) are competing at a new weight. Alvarez is coming off a loss for the first time in a decade.
Here are some fight highlights:
Alvarez has more fighting experience at this weight.
Alvarez and Golovkin’s third fight is at super middleweight, 168 pounds, instead of middleweight, 160.
Alvarez fought much of his early career at super welterweight (154 pounds), moving up to middleweight for the first two Golovkin matches. In recent years, he’s competed at super middleweight and 175 lbs., where he lost to Dmitry Bivol in May.
For Golovkin, it will be moving up a division for the first time in his career.
This fight raises many questions. How will Golovkin’s power translate against a bigger man? Can Lopez bounce back from his second defeat at a more comfortable weight? How do both boxers’ first two bouts change in a different weight class?
Álvarez has said he’ll be seeking a knockout. That’s a tall order.
Golovkin’s career has never been knocked down. He’s never been knocked down.
Legend has it that it never happened when he was an amateur boxer, but you should always take boxing folklore with a grain of salt.
Vargas has boasted all week that the contest won’t be decided. Alvarez told reporters that he wants to finish the fight in 12 rounds.
Friday’s Golovkin response? “Nil.”
Golovkin might want the fight out of the judges’ hands.
Golovkin and Alvarez have fought twice. Vargas narrowly won the replay after a tie. To some, Golovkin won both fights, notably the first, where a judge’s 118-110 scoreline for Alvarez was widely mocked.
“Canelo 118-110. After the scorecards were shown, HBO announcer Jim Lampley replied, “Nope.” “That’s fiction.”
84% of Golovkin’s fights finish in knockouts. Alvarez’s scorecards won’t matter if he knocks him out.
Álvarez is coming off his first loss in nine years?
Vargas has only lost twice in his career, both times against Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he was just 23 years old (2013) and, much more surprisingly, to Bivol earlier this year.
One explanation for Lopez’s latest defeat is that he was competing in a weight class that was too high for him. Alternatively, it may have been an indication that Larran is not as invincible as was previously believed.
Will Lara allow any uncertainty into his performance, or will he return to being the unstoppable force he has always been in the ring?
Is this Golovkin’s last stand?
Before his first two fights against Alvarez, Golovkin rose to prominence in the 2010s with a string of knockouts and title wins. Since then, his career has waned despite regaining some titles.
Golovkin, 40, has seen his greatest days in boxing, but he thinks he’ll keep fighting. Can he beat Lvarez for a career-defining win? Or will this be Golovkin’s last big bout as he fades from the spotlight like all athletes do?
Golovkin’s enormous payoff Saturday night rewarded his years of work as a formidable opponent for Lara. A win would restore his marketability and make him a sought-after fighter.
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