There is arguably no other boxing that knows Canelo Alvarez as well as Gennady Golovkin.
The two men were involved in an epic trilogy with one another, that was played out over a five year period, beginning with their first meeting at middleweight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in September 2017.
It ended in a controversial majority decision draw, with many onlookers believing that Golovkin should have been victorious, leading to a rematch between the duo taking place at the same venue 12 months later.
This time around it was another close encounter that fans felt could have gone either way, but it was Canelo that got his hand raised by majority decision to win the WBA (Super) and WBC middleweight titles.
Both men then went their separate ways with their respective careers before meeting for the third and final time in September 2022, this time at 168lbs with Canelo defending his undisputed super-middleweight titles.
It was another competitive bout that went the distance once again, but this time Canelo claimed a unanimous decision victory, in what has proven to be Golovkin’s last bout with no signs of him returning to the sport.
Arguably the biggest punch across the 36 rounds the two men shared came from Canelo in the second fight, when he landed a huge right hand that landed clean on his Kazakh rival.
Whilst reflecting on that shot, Golovkin was asked by DAZN if Canelo was the hardest launcher he had faced, with his answer clearly disputing that.
“I remember that punch. Well, I let it get through. You know it wasn’t, I don’t know what to call it, it wasn’t hard. It felt kind of like a slap I guess. A slap or a sliding punch. Well, it didn’t do too much.”