SAN DIEGO (AP) – Canelo Alvarez is getting his hands wrapped for training when he cocks his head and makes a kissing noise. In a stroller across the gym, his baby daughter’s face positively lights up at the sound.
Alvarez is deep in the final weeks of work before he meets Gennady Golovkin on Sept. 15 in a middleweight title rematch. It’s the most compelling fight of the year and the possible culmination of a sports rivalry that has turned into a bitter personal grudge.
Alvarez’s suspension for failing two drug tests earlier this year is the primary source of this animus. It’s the reason the fight was postponed four months, costing both fighters untold millions, and it’s the reason the Mexican champion has been out of the ring for the longest stretch in his 13-year professional boxing career.
But in the tranquility of Alvarez’s training gym in an office park set on the gently rolling hills of suburban San Diego, with only his smiling daughter and his retinue for an audience, Alvarez doesn’t fixate on the caustic words thrown his way constantly by Golovkin’s camp, or ponder the loss of any fans whose faith in him waned.
“This is my biggest fight, and this is starting a new chapter, a second chapter in my career,” Alvarez said. “It’s going to be a big victory for me, and I’m going to come out of it with a new energy.”
