‘Shocked’ Canelo Alvarez reacts to Gennady Golovkin fight cancellation - ‘Sensationalist news has tainted my name’

The last few days have just been brutal for the world of combat sports.

Aside from losing Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov for the fourth time and Matt Brown getting bounced from his fight against Carlos Condit, the much-anticipated rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez has now officially been scrapped.

Alvarez failing a couple of drug tests last February which initially out the fight in jeopardy, though Team Alvarez was confident he would clear his name in the basis of tainted meat being the culprit. Apparently, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) simply wasn’t convinced, and Canelo’s team was informed there wouldn’t be enough time to clear his name to make the May 5, 2018 date, ultimately cancelling the bout.

Still, Alvarez maintains his innocence and is shocked at how everything went down.

“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 prepared statement via Washington Times.

“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,” said Canelo during 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. “

After fighting to a controversial draw last year due to some questionable scoring, the two combatants were eager to run it back in order to settle it once and for all, though it seems it could be a while before they get the opportunity depending on what kind of punishment Canelo receives when he steps in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) on April 18.

In the meantime, Golovkin will remain on the card to face an opponent to be named in the near future.