Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin had to settle for a draw at the T-Mobile Arena on Sunday 17 September.
Billed as the fight of the decade, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez squared off in the small hours of Sunday morning at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
What was an exhibition of boxing from two of the best middleweights in the world was soured slightly by scorecard controversy which saw Adalaide Byrd’s card give the Mexican 10 of the 12 rounds.
The fight started as most do with a tentative first round. Canelo landed a series of decent body shots and combinations as he claimed the first. We saw more of the same in the second with GGG starting to get his jab working in this round, with the Kazakh finishing strong combination.
The tentative start would continue in rounds three and four before Golovkin started to assert himself in the fifth. A concussive right from the GGG snapped Canelo’s head back as the crowd started to get behind the Kazakh.
Golovkin continued to dominate, cutting off the ring and moving incredibly well and working the body of Canelo who probably should have been well behind on the scorecards at this point. The middle rounds were all Golovkin as his Mexican opponent was trapped on the ropes for large periods of the fight.
Canelo would try and counter Golovkin’s dominance by working the body a bit more – a tactic which we saw work so well against Liam Smith – but Golovkin was never troubled. That seemed to be the story of the fight, with Golovkin coming through Alvarez’s best shots relatively unscathed.
The final round proved to be the most entertaining as Alvarez – obviously sensing he was down on the cards – came out firing trying to score a KO. Canelo landed a number of good shots including a cracking uppercut and a solid right. GGG threw back, but Canelo definitely claimed the last round although it should not have mattered in the end, with Golovkin well ahead on most scorecards.
The packed house at the T-Mobile Arena eagerly awaited the judges’ scorecards with Byrd scoring it 118-110 to Canelo while Dave Moretti had it 115-113 for Golovkin and Don Trella scored it 114-114 prompting jeers and boos from the crowd.
What this does mean, however, is that we’re likely to see a rematch at some point in the near future. Golovkin stated that he would like to fight Alvarez again while the Mexican has a rematch clause in his contract.
Check out the official scorecard below:
