Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will face Gennady Golovkin in a trilogy fight in September rather than meet Dmitry Bivol in a rematch.
After a shock defeat by Bivol at light-heavyweight, Mexican Alvarez, 31, will return to super-middleweight, where he is the undisputed champion, after a shock defeat by Bivol at light-heavyweight.
Alvarez had the option of a rematch with Russian Bivol, but will honour his agreement with Kazakhstan’s Golovkin.
“In the next few days we will announce the September fight,” he told ESPN.
“Surely, it will be against GGG because we already had that agreement, but I will also fight Bivol again.”
Alvarez beat Golovkin in their rematch in 2018 after a controversial draw in 2017. Both fights were at middleweight.
Golovkin, who turned 40 in April, has won four successive fights since losing to Alvarez, reclaiming the IBF and WBA (Super) middleweight titles along the way.
Before his defeat by Bivol on 7 May – only the second loss of his career – Alvarez had agreed to face Golovkin on 17 September.
“Unfortunately, we lost, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try again. The important thing here is perseverance and we’re going to do it again,” said Alvarez.
“I think those are the two biggest fights in boxing, the fight with Golovkin and the rematch with Bivol.”