Canelo-Golovkin: Boxing Does It Again

By Boxing News - 09/18/2017 - Comments

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By Anthony Montero: Saturday night in Las Vegas boxing diehards witnessed and epic battle for ownership of one of sports most beloved divisions. This showdown was exactly what people have been demanding for years, and when it finally came to reality, it did not disappoint.

There was a wealth of drama, suspense, skill and determination, millions around the world were undoubtedly glued to whatever device they were using to watch the student face the master. Multiple story lines for this fight can be explored, from GGG’s relentless stalking of his prey, his amazingly effective piston like jab that rocked Canelo’s head back, to Canelo’s excellent head and body movement dodging and slipping thunderous punches, to his late fight resurgence as he came back with a vengeance standing in the center of the ring going toe to toe with GGG landing flush rights and lefts to his, it truly was a compelling fight on many levels. Unfortunately the real story of that night was not about the fight itself, it was corruption and incompetence.

Boxing has a long and rich history of links to many forms of corruption, fixed fights, paid off refs and judges, crooked athletic commissions, promotion companies and sanctioning bodies, the list goes on and on. Saturday night people saw first hand a little of everything. Yes this was a close match, a few difficult to score rounds as both fighters did great work and had their moments, however, it still was fairly easy to determine the winner. Most agreed the victor was Golovkin by two rounds, give or take.

Even scoring it for Canelo by two rounds is acceptable. But Adalaide Byrd’s score card of 118-110 for Canelo absolutely screams of incompetence. Perhaps not criminal, but at the very least this is corruption by incompetence. How can someone with a history of questionable to horrible scorecards be allowed to judge a fight of this magnitude? This is a perfect example of being protected by the establishment. Byrd is a staple of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which also has a history of questionable to horrible practices.

Golovkin was robbed of what he has worked his entire career for, what he has wanted for over a decade, this was his moment, but apparently not so. What he gave us through his blood, sweat and tears, was all thrown in the trash due to terrible scoring, that will most likely go unpunished, and not even investigated. His record now blemished, his dream not achieved. This was a world wide event, broadcast in over 140 countries, the revenue made from this fight should be exponentially large, but perhaps that isn’t enough for the powers that be. Guarantying a rematch by making the final judges decision a draw, well that’s just pure brilliance.

Again we will be asked to buy more merchandise and another fight, and of course the people will. We boxing fans have become all too familiar with this scenario and always seem to just brush it off, not being outraged when we’re slapped in the face with this. When will enough be enough? When will we demand the respect and transparency that our sport deserves?

Saturday night GGG was ripped off, so were boxing fans, along with the sport of boxing itself. Still no lineal middleweight champion, still no transparency in our sport. There’s so much greatness that should be spoke of regarding what these two warriors did in the ring, the talent on display, the intelligence, discipline and heart. Unfortunately most of that greatness has been overshadowed by the awful taste of incompetence. How long will we continue to stand idly by?