SAUL MATES

ElliotWorsell wonders if Golovkin’s obsession with Canelo will affect his focus against tough Ukrainian

- ElliotWorsell

A YEAR on from their last encounter, Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez continue to live separately, monitor each other from a distance and deny they are soul mates destined to one day meet again and give everybody the happy ending they are looking for.

On November 2, Alvarez climbs all the way to light-heavyweight to fight WBO champion Sergey Kovalev, but before that Golovkin meets Ukraine’s Sergey Derevyanchenko for the IBF middleweight title this Saturday (October 5).

Though they try to move on, it’s obvious now that the two premier middleweights of the last few years are inextricably linked, defined by the 24 rounds they have so far shared, and that every fight they take behind the other’s back will be considered some sort of betrayal.

If this were a rom-com and not a combat sport, you would be certain they would get together again by the third act. There would be no fear of disappointment. But this is a combat sport, a business built on ego and power, and a reconciliation therefore cannot be guaranteed.

“I don’t think about those guys,” Golovkin said ahead of Saturday’s fight when asked about just one guy. “I don’t really want to discuss this. We had a contract. We were supposed to have a fight on September 14 and he just ran away.”

Something has stung Golovkin, you sense. It’s either the controversial defeat he suffered against Alvarez last September or it is the fact the two have since parted ways and he hasn’t had the opportunity to tell the Mexican what he really thinks of him (or, better still, put right a perceived wrong).Whatever it is, Golovkin must reject Canelo’s existence to maintain his inner peace and, moreover, do so because a loss to Derevyanchenko this weekend will ensure the two never meet again. He must stop living in the past and focus on the future.