Canelo Alvarez Hits Out At Sensationalist News After Gennady Golovkin Rematch Cancellation

Canelo Alvarez has hit out at the media for tainting his name following the cancellation of his title rematch with Gennady Golovkin.

Golovkin was set to defend his World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight titles against the Mexican on May 5 after their first encounter ended in a split-decision draw.

However, trace levels of clenbuterol, a banned substance, was found in two of Canelo's drug tests last month with the 27-year-old's camp citing the source as contaminated meat from Mexico.

Despite contaminated meat being a common occurrence for failed drug tests in the past, Canelo was temporarily suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) before a formal complaint was filed against him.

Likely to be suspended from six months to a year for being a first-time offender, Canelo withdrew from the highly-anticipated rematch as Golovkin will now have to find a new opponent.

"I am truly shocked by what has happened and I am lament this has caused people to have doubts about my integrity. I have always been a clean fighter," Alvarez said in a statement, as per MMAMania.

The former two-weight champion also expressed his displeasure at how certain media labeled him as a cheat given the recent developments.

"It hurts that for mismanagement of information of sensationalist news my name is being tainted when I’ve always been a clean fighter that respects what he does, being disciplined and dedicated one hundred percent to his sport, it hurts me a lot," Canelo added in a press conference.

"But like I said before, I’m calm because I know who I am. I have nothing left to say beside that during this time, I’ll take more precautions, obviously after this passes, I will take more precautions to avoid this ever happening to me again," he said.

As for Golovkin, he still insists on fighting on May 5 and recently announced that news on an opponent will be revealed soon as he looks to tie Bernard Hopkins' record for most middleweight title defenses with 20.

Meanwhile, World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders is ready to fight "GGG" but only in September.

The Briton's upcoming title defense against Martin Murray was postponed to June due to a hand injury but Saunders is open to a title unification fight for all the belts in the fall.

“I’d happily fight Golovkin for a sensible day for both of us. He says he wants to unify,” Saunders told BehindTheGloves, as per BoxingNews24. "The Canelo fight's not happening. I’m now ready. I’m standing here in front of him."

"If I get in the ring with him, I want to make sure I take his belts, and I want to make sure I’m 100 percent for that. I’m willing to do it. Let’s be fair. Let’s play on a fair playing field. I’m willing to fight Golovkin. I’m willing to take Canelo’s place. Let’s book it for September. Let’s fight. September, if he wants to put pen to paper. One hundred percent in September, let’s get it on," he said.