By Reggie Luna: The late great “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler once said; “In order to be at the top and maintain your focus, you have to have something that truly motivates you.”

After dropping a decision on May 7 to Dmitry Bivol, his first official loss since September of 2013, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez seems determined to bounce back with an emphatic victory over long-time nemesis Gennady Golovkin.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, the proud Mexican warrior was very clear on what currently motivates him to win his September 17 trilogy with GGG.

“He’s a F***ing a**hole,” Canelo said about Golovkin. “He’s not honest. He pretends to be a good person, but he’s not. He talks a lot of s**t about me…I hate that mother f***er because of that.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn insists that Saul’s apparent animosity towards his 40-year-old opponent is indeed genuine.

“I’ve never seen him (Alvarez) like this,” stated the Chairman of Matchroom Sport in a recent interview with AB Boxing News.

“You don’t need Canelo Alvarez to sell pay-per-views. You would never say to Canelo, ‘Oh, on the head to head, make sure you get up close to him.’ He’s too big of a star for that. He’s doing this off of his own back. There’s something inside him for this fight and he wants Gennady to say what he’s been saying to the media.”

“On one hand, Golovkin says, ‘I respect him and it’s not about that.’ But on the other hand, you look at what he’s stated in the past.”

So what exactly did the Kazakh native say to make Alvarez so emotionally charged?

In a recent interview with fight scribe Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, GGG provided some clarity on previous remarks about Canelo.

“I stand by my words, and I take full responsibility for everything I said. But we are talking about, not some allegations, we’re talking about true facts. He’s the one who tested positive. And he’s trying to come up with some excuses. He’s trying to blame other people.”

“That behavior is, I would say, just like clownish behavior. And I would say that, maybe, the fact that they’re saying, well, once, or twice, or three times was tested positive, it does not count. It’s still not too many times. Maybe because I’m not a member of the pajama club, that’s why they are upset with me.”

So is the apparent anger between Canelo and Golovkin genuine? Is Canelo merely using GGG’s words for motivation during training camp?

Or is it something else entirely?

Veteran fight trainer Ronnie Shields believes the perceived “bad blood” is nothing more than a promotional tool to sell a third installment of Canelo vs. GGG to the mainstream and casual sports audience; a match-up that hasn’t been in demand for several years.

“What fighter doesn’t talk mess? They all do. It’s going to happen. But these guys are dance partners. They realize this,” Coach Shields stated during his weekly podcast on War a Week Radio.

“GGG is a really good fighter and you can’t anything away from him. He’s a unified middleweight champion. Canelo is a good fighter, and the current 168-pound undisputed champion, and you can’t take anything away from him. People know this, and the real fans of the sport will be interested every time these two get in the ring.”

“With the pre-fight banter, they’re trying to get non-boxing people interested enough to buy this fight. So you have to talk mess for that to happen…it’s very simple. But at the end of the day, these guys are business partners and will make each other a lot of money.”

Ronnie Shields has been an active member of the boxing business for five decades and has a very curious point.

If Canelo really didn’t like Golovkin, would the Mexican favorite give his 40-year-old adversary the opportunity to make another career-high purse? Does Canelo need Triple G to earn millions of dollars and sell PPVs? Absolutely not. We’ve seen him sell fights with BJ Saunders and Caleb Plant in the U.S. market. If Canelo genuinely doesn’t like a specific fighter, it’s hard to believe the sport’s biggest mainstream draw would grant such a fighter a multi-million dollar payday…just ask Demetrius Andrade.

Yes, it’s no surprise that DAZN has clamored for the rights to broadcast the third installment of Alvarez vs. GGG since its inception in 2017. But fans witnessed how the drama unfolded back in 2020 when the streaming network attempted to force the hand of boxing’s biggest earner and his promoter at the time, Golden Boy Promotions.

Didn’t work out very well for either DAZN or GBP. Not only were they unable to convince Canelo to fight whomever the DAZN brass deemed suitable, but they were also forced to release him from his lucrative multi-fight deal due to a claimed breach of contract by Team Alvarez.

Of course, DAZN is currently working with boxing’s biggest attraction once again, but the price of licensing fee per outing has almost doubled in cost, and Canelo is only contractually obligated to compete on their platform through December of 2022.

It’s safe to assume that Canelo Alvarez calls the shots at this time. He sets the terms and is currently the overwhelming A-side throughout every negotiation, regardless of opposition.

So would Alvarez really grant a fighter he genuinely didn’t like the opportunity to make millions at his expense?

Absolutely not.

Boxing is entertainment, but it’s a business first and foremost. From now until September 17, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will continue to be business partners, so fans should expect more bitter but strategic diatribe from both parties involved.