By Sean Jones: Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin says he doesn’t like the way that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and his team at Golden Boy Promotions are going around saying that they won their fight last September.
Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) feels it’s not good for Canelo and Golden Boy to lie to the boxing fans, because they saw the fight for themselves, and they know that he lost fight.
For the record, the judges scored the Canelo-GGG fight a 12 round draw by the scores 118-110 for Canelo, 115-113 for Golovkin and 114-114. Of those scores, the 115-113 was the one that the boxing public appears to agree with the most.
A lot of fans saw Golovkin winning the fight by 116-112 score. That comes out to 8 rounds to 4. Boxing News 24 scored the fight to Golovkin by 9 rounds to 3 score. Canelo fought well in the first 3 rounds, but after that, he was exhausted and done for the night.
Without going into detail, Golovkin says a lot was done to keep the highly popular Mexican star Canelo from losing their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Golovkin doesn’t say what precisely was done to keep Canelo from getting beaten, but he does seem to be hinting that the judges kept popular fighter from absorbing another loss.
“I don’t even want to discuss the 118-110 scorecard, because it was just ridiculous,” said Golovkin to RingTV about judge Adelaide Byrd’s 118-110 scorecard. “I just want to say to Canelo and his team have gone everywhere saying they think they won the fight. But in my opinion, if they really won, then the judges wouldn’t have ruled it a draw. I just want to remind them that there’s no reason to lie to the boxing fans, who watched the fight and understand exactly what they saw,” said Golovkin.
Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions both have said that they felt that Canelo did more than enough to deserve the win over Golovkin. When Hopkins talks about the fight, he brings up e-mails of unknown people that contacted him to tell him that they felt that Canelo won the fight.
Canelo, of course, also thinks he won the fight. Canelo says he won, and that Golovkin doesn’t hit as hard as people think he does. Canelo doesn’t say why he used so much movement during the fight. If Golovkin doesn’t hit hard, as he says, he shouldn’t have wasted so much time and energy during the fight using movement. Canelo would have been better off staying int eh pocket and trading with Goovkin if he didn’t have much punching power.
“Yes, of course, I was hopeful that the fight was ours,” said Golovkin . “I believed at that point there was a greater chance of winning the decision on points than losing the fight. I believe I won the fight by 2 or 3 rounds. So yes, I thought I won the fight. What can I say? A lot was done and made for Canelo to win this fight, but in reality, if Canelo would have indeed beaten me, then the decision would have gone to him instead of it being a draw. I believe a lot of work was done for Canelo to at least not lose this fight. But in the end the judges decided it was a draw,” said Golovkin.
The Canelo vs. GGG fight took place in Las Vegas, where Canelo had previously fought on 7 occasions. Canelo brings a lot of money to Las Vegas. If Canelo had lost the fight, it might not have been good for the city. Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler perhaps didn’t realize during the negotiations what it would be like to fight Canelo in a city where he’s become very important. That was obviously a mistake on GGG and Loeffler’s part to agree to let the fight take place in Vegas instead of a neutral city where they would have a better chance of winning the decision if it went to the scorecards
“Yes, of course, he’s changed a lot,” said Golovkin about how much Canelo has changed since the time he sparred him 7 years ago in 2010. “He was much stronger now and much more experienced. His weight is different as well. Of course, he’s a different Canelo. This wasn’t the young boy from back then. He’s a very experienced fighter now,” said Golovkin.
Canelo was only 19 or 20 when Golovkin sparred him many years ago. The Canelo that Golovkin fought last September was a different one than the one we’d seen in 2016 in his fights against Liam Smith and Amir Khan. Canelo bulked up in a major way for the Golovkin fight. Canelo looked like he packed on no less than 15 pounds, and he appeared to be the heavier fighter. Canelo’s physique was entirely different from the past.
“Even during our fight, at certain times I liked what I saw from him, and I like the fighter he’s become,” said Golovkin. “No, I didn’t watch it. It’s not interesting for me at this time. You know the saying, ‘you have good days and you have bad days,’ and for me, it was a bad day in my career. At the moment there’s no reason for me to analyze anything, so, I don’t need to watch it yet,” GGG said.
It’s good that Golovkin is taking the high road and giving Canelo credit for looking good at times. That’s more than what Canelo di after the fight when asked about Golovkin. Canelo had nothing good to say about Golovkin for some reason. This led to the boxing crowd at the T-Mobile to boo Canelo for him sounding like a poor sport. The fans expected Canelo to show some class instead of him sounding like a sore loser.
“Yes, of course, I would like a second fight,” said Golovkin. ”I am interested in a second fight. They saw that I won the fight,” said Golovkin about his boxing fans. “Let’s just say that people need to keep their word, and at the moment, we don’t even have a date to settle who is the best, and who is the strongest. It’s hard to make this into a reality at the moment. But, of course, the second fight with Canelo, and then ultimately unify all the titles is our goal,” said Golovkin.
Canelo and Golden Boy haven’t yet committed to the rematch for May 5. That’s when Canelo will be fighting again, but he’s not saying whether it’ll be against Golovkin or another opponent. Oscar De La Hoya says they want to hold off on a decision about the Golovkin rematch until after the David Lemieux vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight on December 16.
“It’s really hard to say who will win that fight, and to make a prediction in boxing,” said Golovkin about the Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux fight. “It’s going to be an interesting fight, and I’m very curious to see who Saunders really is, and how Lemieux will show up,” said Golovkin.
Lemieux is thought to have the best chance of winning the fight with Saunders, in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. Lemieux has the power advantage, and the fight is taking place in his home country of Canada.
“I feel very good right now, so I am planning to say in boxing,” said Golovkin. “I can’t say how long I can say in the sport, because this is boxing, and that means every fight and every punch can change everything. But I think I will be staying around,” said Golovkin.
This is good news that Golovkin plans on staying around in the sport for a while, because his fans want to know whether he’ll continue fighting after the Canelo rematch or not. GGG’s boxing fans want him to stay around a lot longer.
