Canelo vs GGG 2: I think PEDS when I look at Canelo’s physique - Teddy Atlas
CANELO ALVAREZ’s slimmer physique ahead of his rematch with Gennady Golovin is down to him no longer using performance-enhancing drugs, boxing legend Teddy Atlas believes.
Canelo will rematch Golovkin for the WBA Super, WBC and IBO middleweight titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning.
The Mexico native goes into his showdown with the undefeated Golovkin significantly trimmer than he was in their first encounter last September.
His smaller frame has raised questions in the boxing world, mainly because of the fact he failed two drug tests - which found traces of the banned substance clenbuterol in his system - in February.
And Atlas reckons the 28-year-old’s dramatic transformation is down to him no longer taking prohibited agents.
“Everything we know with all the information we know and the history we know, what do I think? What am I going to become a BS artist suddenly at this point in my life? I think PEDS,” the legendary trainer told Fight Hub TV. “I mean, what do you think?
“You might not say it because you want to - and other people might not say it because they don’t want to be on the wrong side of anybody.
“But for me, if I’m asked for an opinion, I have a responsibility to get straight to that opinion and say exactly what my experience can tell me in this sport of over 40 years.
“And when you talk about something that dramatic, again, with the accusations… and not just the accusations, he failed two drug tests. And you see him smaller!
I think PEDS
“I don’t know, he was saying about beef, right? The Mexican beef was tainted or something. With all that money, buy some Kobe beef.
“All I know is that something has changed. Something that was making his body bigger is no longer making his body bigger.
“I know there’s a lot of buffets in Vegas, but I don’t think he ran into a bunch of buffets before the first fight.”
Canelo has vehemently denied ever taking PEDS and recently doubled down on his claim that his doping infringements were the result of him ingesting tainted meat.
“I don’t want to get anyone else involved. This was my mistake for not reading up on the risks, not researching more, more on the subject, on what’s going on with the beef in Mexico,” Alvarez said.
“But I didn’t do anything intentionally. I didn’t do anything to try to enhance my performance. I would never do anything like that.
“It was a mistake and nothing more, not educating myself about this problem in Mexico.
"It was my mistake, and I won’t repeat it.”
Canelo vs GGG 2 card - Saturday, September 15
Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin - WBA (Super), WBC, and IBO middleweight title fight
Jaime Munguia vs Brandon Cook - WBA Jr middleweight title fight
David Lemieux vs Gary O’Sullivan - Middleweight bout
Roman Gonzalez vs Moises Fuentes - Super Flyweight bout