In a very personal journal entry Gennady Golovkin talks about and reveals some of his most inner memories from the past.

Ahead of his fight with Canelo Alvarez this weekend in Las Vegas in a personal entry written by the man himself, Gennady Golovkin talks about some of the things that he just can’t forget about in his life that have led up to where he is today.

At the pinnacle of boxing.

In a personal journal entry on The Players Tribune, Golovkin goes into detail about his past starting off from when he was a child.

He recalls how his favorite meal has always included beef as his mother growing up cooked it often and would frequently smell up the family apartment with the smell of beef, a very popular dish in his home country he pointed out.

He recites how he and his closest in age brother, Max, would look up to their two older brothers Sergey and Vadim and how ultimately this inspired him to go to a boxing club and at first, how he didn’t like boxing as in his own words:

“Who wants to get punched in the face?”

The Kazakhstan native growing up in his home country also played a lot of soccer as a child.

His most painful memory as a child surrounded his two older brothers leaving for the army, only sadly never to return home.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing passages in the piece on The Players Tribune (hat tip) comes here:

A fascinating insight into the psyche of a top level fighter who despite how good he is, doesn’t actually love what he does.

Contrary to the popular belief that many famed fighters have said down through the years that to be as good as they were – was only facilitated by their love and passion for the sport.

The above conveys that everyone’s motivated in different ways, at the end of the day.

This weekend against Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin will not need much motivation following the recent birth of his second child and his first daughter.