By Edward Chaykovsky

Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs), holder of the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight championships, came out swinging when discussing his current career rival, Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs).

Both fighters are scheduled to see action in the next few weeks. Their respective promoters have a verbal agreement in place to match their fighters next September.

Canelo will return to the ring on September 17th, when he challenges Liam Smith for the WBO junior middleweight world title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Golovkin is going to defend his belts one week earlier, on September 10th, against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook at the O2 Arena in London.

Canelo, who held the WBC middleweight title at the start of the year, was ordered by the World Boxing Council to face Golovkin. The two sides agreed to take one interim-fight and then collide in the fall.

The fall match never happened after Canelo vacated the title and announced that he was moving back to 154 to face Smith. The WBC would later name Golovkin as the full champion at 160.

Golovkin believes Canelo is scared to take the fight, and his promoter - Golden Boy Promotions - is scared to have their cash cow beaten. Even with the verbal agreement, Golovkin has no confidence in facing Canelo in September of next year.

“Canelo, he’s talking too much. He’s not smart, not respectful of people,” Golovkin said to the Los Angeles Times. “Everybody wants to watch this fight. He’s just scared. Canelo and [promoter] Golden Boy — everybody around Canelo — understands, and they’re all scared. He’s their Golden Child. If he’s finished, no money from him, no business.”

“He’s saying September’s the best date. Maybe he’ll fight [Antonio] Margarito, maybe [Manny] Pacquiao or blah, blah, blah before then. It’s too much talk from Canelo. He’s not serious. Everybody understands it. People understand that G’s ready and Canelo’s not. He’s under pressure.”