Sports
Gennadiy Golovkin expecting ‘different’ Canelo Alvarez in trilogy fight
Gennadiy Golovkin is expecting a different Canelo Alvarez.
Perhaps no two fighters know each other better inside the ring than Alvarez (57-2) and Golovkin (42-1), who are set to face off in their trilogy fight on Sept. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two legends previously squared off in 2017 and ’18 in two of boxing’s biggest-ever bouts after anticipation grew through much of their careers, which saw them both become multiple-belt champions and reside atop the pound-for-pound rankings. The two fights – surrounded by scoring controversies – resulted in a draw and an Alvarez majority decision, respectively, prompting arguably the sport’s most divisive and bitter rivalries.
This time around, however, the 32-year-old Alvarez enters the bout coming off a loss to Dmitry Bivol, his first defeat since 2013 to Floyd Mayweather. It injected a dose of reality into the career of Alvarez, who had moved up to light heavyweight in an attempt to win a title in yet another division – a size he is likely not equipped for.
“I’ve known Canelo for a long time, and I’ve always known that it was possible, and Dmitri Bivol just showed us that,” the Kazakhstani Golovkin told The Post through an interpreter. “Some experts were under the illusion that Canelo was unbeatable, I never shared that opinion. That loss kind of brought the situation back to reality, back to the actual state of things.
“I think that he will draw conclusions as a result of his loss. He will take our fight much more seriously, much more realistically, and that will be a totally different fight, compared with his fight against Bivol.”
The resentment between the two fighters has only grown throughout their careers.
In coming off a loss, and facing adversity he’d long avoided inside the ring, Alvarez’s public demeanor has noticeably changed and grown more combative. There’s been seemingly even more vitriol at the Mexican star’s introductory press conferences with Golovkin, with Alvarez growing more personal in his attacks and comments.
“I cannot speak for him, his behavior, I think it just shows his true face,” Golovkin said. “The way he was probably brought up and the level of toxicity around him, toxic people that are in his camp.”
Since his defeat to Alvarez, Golovkin has won all four of his fights easily, ending three of them early by stoppage and reclaiming, then defending, his IBF, IBO and WBA middleweight titles. He’s moved on, he promises, from the decisions in the first two Alvarez fights and all the controversy it sparked, and isn’t carrying any skepticism about judging for the third fight.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t still think he was robbed, however.
“I’ll be honest with you, I moved on the next day,” Golovkin said. “I haven’t thought about it much. I realized that those people who gave those scores, they were used. They were used like disposable tissues are being used. It was time to use them, they were used and disposed off.”
At 40 years old, it will be a different Golovkin inside the ring as well. For the first time in his career, he is moving up from middleweight to super middleweight for the bout, where all four of Alvarez’s undisputed titles will be on the line. Golovkin, despite long being unified middleweight champion, has never been an undisputed champion.
The change this late into his career demonstrates the legendary “ambition” and “craziness” inside him he claims he must respond to, proving he is willing to do whatever is necessary to capture this long-awaited signature win.
“Titles themselves are not as important,” Golovkin said. “It might sound like I’m being hypocritical here, but not really. The victory is much more important. The titles that might be coming by way, as a result of this victory, are considered by me as a bonus.”
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The NBA’s longest win streak is finally over after the Knicks suffered their first loss in nine games on Wednesday. Expect New York to start a new streak Friday against a team it dominated the last time they faced off.
The Knicks were playing like the best team in basketball during their lengthy win streak, posting the league’s best net rating (+17.3) with six double-digit victories in that eight-game run. That included a 23-point beat-down of the Bulls exactly a week ago, when New York drained 17 3s and saw three players score at least 22 points in an easy win.
Knicks vs. Bulls (7:30 p.m. Eastern) prediction: Knicks -5.5 (Caesars Sportsbook)
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That game marked the worst offensive showing of the season for Chicago (91 points), which has struggled with chemistry and spacing issues all year long. The Bulls rank dead last in 3-point attempts per game (28.8) and third-worst in offensive rebounding rate (23.6%), which leaves very few easy scoring chances for one of the NBA’s worst offenses.
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It’s the opposite story for the Knicks, who boast three legitimate shot-creators and also rank among the league leaders in points in the paint. Julius Randle (31 points) relentlessly attacked this Chicago defense in their first meeting before allowing RJ Barrett (27 points) to lead the way in the second affair — his fourth of five straight games with at least 22 points.
I don’t see this Knicks attack slowing down against one of the league’s most inconsistent defenses. And until Zach LaVine returns to his All-Star form, I’m skeptical of the Bulls’ offense showing up on Friday, too.
Knicks vs. Bulls pick: Knicks -5.5 (Caesars Sportsbook)
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After starting the season 21-4-1, it looked like the New Jersey Devils were going to run away with the Metropolitan Division as one of the very best teams in the NHL.
Not only were the Devils cruising, but their underlying metrics were elite. New Jersey was the best 5-on-5 team through the first quarter of the season.
Three weeks and one six-game losing streak later, and the Devils have fallen back to earth and are now two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division.
The Devils were able to get off the schneid with a win over Florida on Wednesday, but the task doesn’t get any easier with the league-leading Boston Bruins in town.
New Jersey is a slight +102 home underdog against Boston starting at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and the NHL Network.
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Bruins vs. Devils prediction
Even though the Devils have struggled to get results over their last 10 contests, their underlying numbers don’t suggest there’s all that much wrong with how they’re playing. New Jersey isn’t posting the pace-setting numbers it did through Thanksgiving, but it’s still skating to the fifth-best expected goals rate and high-danger scoring chance rate in the league over its last 10 contests.
Those numbers should help ease any sense of panic that New Jersey could continue to fall back further into the pack as we head toward the New Year.
So if New Jersey is still tilting the ice in the right direction, what is the issue for the Devils?
For one thing, the Devs are struggling to find the back of the net like they did when they were rolling. New Jersey has scored just nine goals in its last five games, and four of those tallies came in a 4-2 victory over Florida on Wednesday. Over their last 10 games, the Devils rank 25th in the NHL with a 6.56% shooting percentage.
Additionally, the Devils are not getting the goaltending needed to stabilize them. New Jersey’s netminders were always thought to be the team’s biggest weakness, and that has started to show lately as the Devils rank 23rd in the NHL in 5-on-5 save percentage over the last 10 games.
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The Bruins, meanwhile, continue to roll. Boston is 7-1-2 over its last 10 contests and ranks third in the league over that span in expected goals rate and fourth in high-danger chance percentage. The Bruins pace the NHL with a +54 goal differential, which is 25 goals better than the team in second (Toronto).
But as impressive as Boston has been over its first 31 games of the season, the Bruins are playing on a back-to-back on Friday, while the Devils were off on Thursday night.
The Bruins are the better team in a vacuum, but this is a good buy-low spot on the Devils, who are still playing solid hockey but are just not getting the results.
Devils vs. Bruins pick
New Jersey Devils +102 (FanDuel)
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