Sean Jones: Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) will be defending his IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight titles against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) on May 5th at the same venue as their previous fight last September at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo-Golovkin 2 will be televised on HBO pay-per-view starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT. The tickets for the fight are affordable, but they’ll likely be sold out quickly.
Golovkin is not happy at all about having to go back to the T-Mobile Arena where he was arguably robbed for the previous Canelo fight. Golovkin says he’s returning to the ”scene of the crime” in going back to the T-Mobile Arena where the judges gave Canelo a controversial draw in a fight that he appeared to lose by 4 to 6 rounds. They say that it’s good for people to go back to a place where they had a terrible experience. Perhaps Golovkin can erase the memory of what took place at the T-Mobile last September by knocking out Canelo in the May 5th rematch so the judges don’t take away his win.
This is NOT where GGG and his promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions wanted the rematch with the highly popular Golden Boy Promotions star Canelo Alvarez to take place. The reasons are simple. Last September’s first fight between Canelo and Golovkin in Vegas saw the judges score it a 12 round draw. The judges gave Canelo many rounds in which Golovkin appeared to do the better work. One judge was so impressed with Canelo that she scored it for him by a 10 rounds to 2 score.
Golovkin was really up against it with the way 2 of the judges scored the fight. Another judge felt Canelo fought well enough to deserve a 114-114 draw. This judge gave Canelo the 7th round. That was a round that the other 2 judges felt Golovkin won. The scoring by 2 of the judges for the first fight was controversial, and made few boxing fans happy. Golovkin and Loeffler were hoping that they wouldn’t have to go back to the same venue for the rematch. They wanted the rematch with Canelo Alvarez to take place in New York or Dallas, Texas. In the end, the Canelo-Goovkin rematch went right back to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is where Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya wanted it to be all along, and he’s now gotten his way.
“I am happy to return for the fourth time at T-Mobile Arena for this historic rematch against [Gennady] Golovkin,” said Canelo. “I opened the doors of this place to the world of boxing, and it has become my favorite venue. This is where the fight started, and this is where I’ll end it by doing what I and my fans most desire: knocking him out.”
Canelo didn’t fight the right way for him to have a chance of scoring a knockout of Triple G last September. Canelo was mostly landing single pot shots, and then running away from Golovkin before he could hit him back. Canelo fought like Floyd Mayweather Jr. used to fight before he started getting booed a lot. Canelo has to fight a different style in the rematch with Golovkin to have any chance of getting a stoppage, and it’s not going to be easy for him to do that.
Canelo’s basis DNA is to fight in brief spurts and then get away so he can catch his breath and recover from the expenditure of energy. That style doesn’t produce knockouts against good fighters. It produces for Canelo against fighters that have weak chins and/or fighters that aren’t suited to the weight class like Amir Khan. Canelo has to learn that for him to get knockouts against middleweights, he’ll need to be more aggressive and that means no more running like we saw last time he fought Golovkin.
Canelo is probably not going to be able to do that though. His conditioning problems will limit him to fighting in spurts once again, and Golovkin will be the one that is doing most of the fighting. The thing is if Canelo doesn’t change his style of fighting, he’s going to shorten his career, as he’ll be forced to fight matches that go the full 12 rounds. The longer fights tend to shorten fighters’ careers because they end up having to take more punishment than if they’re able to score knockouts.
Canelo wanted the rematch with Golovkin to take place in Las Vegas all along, so the news of the fight taking place in that city obviously pleases him. Canelo was arguably benefited with the way 2 of the judges scored the first fight with Triple G, so he’s bitter about the results of the first fight. It was a positive for Canelo what happened last September with the judges scored the fight.
If things had been different and Canelo was the one that appeared to have won the fight and the judges scored it a draw, he might not be so eager to go back to Las Vegas. That didn’t happen though. The scoring by the judges appeared to help Canelo and greatly hurt Golovkin. However, if the second fight sees Canelo getting a controversial draw or decision win, then it’s likely going to hurt his popularity with boxing fans. Canelo needs to win and look like a winner this time instead of a fighter that was given a gift draw.
Canelo vs. Golovkin 2 will be taking place on May 5th on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo. You can argue the venue favors Canelo in a big way, as the boxing fans that purchase tickets for the fight will likely be mostly his fans. If the judges are influenced by crowd noise, then it could be VERY difficult for Golovkin to win a decision. I suspect GGG probably knows that already from the first fight with Canelo last September. The 35-year-old Golovkin will almost surely be looking to knock Canelo out on May 5th to keep the judges from scoring the contest and potentially taking away his victory.
Canelo and Golovkin will meet for a press conference next Tuesday on February 27 at the Microsoft Square at L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, California. Golovkin, Canelo, Oscar De La Hoya, Tom Loeffler, trainer Abel Sanchez, Eddy Reynoso and Chepo Reynoso will all be there to discuss the rematch on May 5th.
“It feels right that the rematch returns to the scene of the crime,” said Golovkin. “This time there will be no drama with a decision. I won the first fight and left the ring as world champion wearing all the belts. And I am going to win the second fight. It is going to be a record fight and a golden night for me and boxing at T-Mobile Arena.”