LAS VEGAS -- With nothing left to stand in the way entering Saturday's pay-per-view showdown from Las Vegas, it's time to get ready for the best boxing has to offer in 2017.
Lineal middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and unified titleholder Gennady Golovkin each came in at the 160-pound limit at Friday's weigh-in, minutes after a trio of undercard fighters proved unable to make weight.
Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), who waited two years chasing Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) before finally securing the first true money fight of his career, looked ripped and focused on the scales. Afterwards, he engaged in a chilling staredown with Alvarez, the Mexican sensation and boxing's biggest star not named Floyd Mayweather.
Asked for his prediction during the post-weigh in interview, which represents Golovkin's 19th success of the middleweight title (one shy of Bernard Hopkins' division record), the 35-year-old smiled and said, "Big gift to people."
GGG also didn't budge when told that Alvarez had predicted a knockout.
"Look, I am still champion a long time," Golovkin said. "I see you tomorrow. I mean, I see you tomorrow. This is boxing. I am a good guy, you know. Only God, he knows."
Alvarez, 27, looked just as impressive physically on the scale and looked deeply into Golovkin's eyes during the staredown. After the two were finished glaring at each other, Alvarez exploded into a fit of shadow boxing as the crowd cheered.
"I'm very happy for all the love and support for all these fans, so I'm going to give them 100 percent like I always do," Alvarez said. "I trained hard and I am disciplined and that's why I'm going to give them such a great fight."
Alvarez looked annoyed when he was reminded of Golovkin's trash talk from last year. GGG insulated that Alvarez was afraid of him, as a reason for the fight taking so long to get made.
"Listen, when I was born, I came out and I wasn't afraid," Alvarez said. "We are going to see that and I"m going to show him who Canelo really is. Look, they can say all they want but we are a day away and tomorrow all those words are going to go out the window."
