Gennady Golovkin feared a third shot at Canelo Alvarez would not materialise after being made to wait.
Two of the biggest names in boxing face each other once again this weekend in Las Vegas, four years on from their second bout in which Canelo edged a majority decision.
That followed a controversial draw in the first fight, after many believed Golovkin had done enough to get the decision on scorecards but instead one judged scored in 118-110 in the Mexican’s favour.
Since then the focus for Canelo has been on the super middleweight divison and he became undisputed champion last year after beating Caleb Plant with a late stoppage. That gave him the IBF belt and completed the set.
Canelo has also moved up to light heavyweight on a couple of occasions, most recently when losing to Dmitry Bivol in May.
That desire to go through the divisions delayed a triology fight with Golovkin, who is now 40 and revealed he had to accept a number of demands from his rival to get this bout over the line.
“This fight is important for the sport,” Golovkin said. “It rewards fans and creates new fans. It is the biggest fight in boxing and certainly the biggest fight of our trilogy.
“This is the type of fight that makes boxing grow. Trilogies are historic and I’m excited to be part of one. It’s amazing. It means that the first two fights were so good that we were in demand and the fans wanted to see us fight each other again.
“I made a lot of concessions to Canelo to keep this fight intact because I’ve always wanted this third fight. I would never give up a championship belt or move to a different weight class to avoid an opponent.
“And while four years is too long between the last fight and this one, I’m relieved Canelo didn’t wait until I was 50 to agree to a third fight. Because for a while it seemed that was a strong possibility.”
Canelo’s undisputed crown at super middleweight is on the line this weekend as he moves back down to 168lbs and gives Golovkin a shot at all the belts.
It will be a debut at the weight for Golovkin, though he did not appear particularly concerned when asked how the move up a division had impacted his camp.
“One or two more dinners, more burgers, more tacos,” Golovkin joked.
