Immediately after a comfortable win over Julio Chavez Jr in Las Vegas on Saturday Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez announced he would fight Gennady Golovkin in September.
Triple G’s response was a wry smile as he sat at ringside having watched his next opponent dominate from start to finish. It is a fight the boxing world has been longing to see and Golovkin will put his WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles on the line against the WBO light-middleweight champion.
It should be one of the best matchups of the year with the Kazakh having won all 37 of his fights with 33 by knockout, while Alvarez has just one defeat against Floyd Mayweather on his record in a 51-fight career.
Golovkin last fought in March where he won a unanimous points decision against the tough New Yorker Daniel Jacobs. However, while Jacobs proved difficult to get rid of inside 12 rounds, Canelo will prove an altogether tougher test of his credentials.
There was no title on the line at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as Alvarez stepped up in weight to fight the much bigger Chavez at a catchweight of 164lbs.
Against Chavez, Canelo dominated to win every round and even stayed standing between every round and showed accuracy with his jab throughout, adding eye-catching combinations.
"I showed I can move, box and do all those things against a fighter who was bigger," Alvarez said. "He wouldn't throw punches."
At 35, Golovkin is nine years older than Canelo but there is no sign of him slowing down and with arguably the heaviest punch in the sport Canelo will need to show all of his class to overcome the unbeaten champion.
Canelo certainly does not lack power himself, as Amir Khan and Liam Smith will testify but it will interesting to see how much power he has when he takes on Golovkin.
Of Canelo’s 49 wins, 34 have come by way of knockout. Whether Golovkin’s superior tally this will be the difference remains to be seen but it has the potential to be one of the best fights in years if both fighters bring their A games to Vegas in September.
Just as the world is still revelling in the spectacular fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, the next mouth-watering bout has just been lined up. All boxing fans will now have September 16 marked in their diaries.
Six-time world champion Sugar Ray Leonard said he expects "one hell of a fight" when the pair meet. We don’t doubt it either.
