‘Who is he to finish anybody’s career?’: Golovkin takes aim at Álvarez

“I don’t pay attention to any nonsense that he is saying. I stopped paying attention a long time ago,” Gennady Golovkin says coolly as, just days before they step into the ring to face other for a third time, he dismisses the bitter and personal words Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez has directed towards him.

All week, as the hype and bluster of this trilogy cranks into overdrive, Canelo has promised that he will “punish” Golovkin before knocking him out and ending his career on Saturday night.

Golovkin is 40 years old and the end is approaching. He remains one of the very best fighters of the century and, at his best, he was a supreme technician and implacable force. For more than 11 years, from his debut in May 2006 to his first fight against Canelo in September 2017, Golovkin compiled a 37-0 record.

He was remorseless and intimidating to all but the most courageous of middleweights who boxed against him as, in an eight-year period, he knocked out 23 successive opponents. Golovkin became a monster in the ring who fought with icy composure and seemed almost immune to pain. He was that good.

It did not help Golovkin that he came from Kazakhstan and that, even though he speaks English in a polite and serviceable way, he usually chose to talk in his home language and relied on a translator. It is not the best way to crack the US and so Golovkin fought mainly in Europe, and often in Monte Carlo, while he waited patiently for the greatest test of his career. Canelo finally emerged as his equal – with the Mexican, who is eight years younger, ready to push Golovkin to the brink.

The overwhelming consensus, in their first fight five years ago this week, was that the judges robbed Golovkin as they scored the bout a draw. Canelo was lucky