By Sean Jones: Five days after the biggest fight of 2018, Paulie Maligaggi continues to complain about Saul Canelo Alvarez’s controversial 12 round majority decision win over Gennady Golovkin from last Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Malignaggi saw the fight as a win for Golovkin or a draw, but definitely not a loss. That’s a robbery in the eyes of Malignaggi.
With more time to reflect on the Canelo-GGG2 fight, Malignaggi is more impressed now than he was last Saturday with the boxing skills of GGG. Malignaggi is amazed at how Golovkin was able to back up against Canelo through much of the fight and yet never back up against the ropes. Malignaggi likes the way that Golovkin was able box Canelo, and hit him when he would come forward. Canelo did well in the first six rounds, Malignaggi notes, but he fell apart in the second half when Golovkin rallied with his boxing and his hard power shots against the tired looking Mexican star. Canelo lost his momentum completely and was hurt in the 10th and 11th. The first fight wasn’t a draw
“If it was a draw, then it wouldn’t have been a robbery,” Malignaggi said to Fighthype. “No, Canelo winning is a robbery. In the first fight a draw was a robbery, but Canelo winning [the second fight] was a robbery. You can’t find seven rounds that Canelo won. It’s preconceived notions. You expect Golovkin to come forward, and you expected Canelo to go backwards. You saw the opposite. Now it’s like, ‘Canelo has to win.’ No, he didn’t win. Watch the fight,” Malignaggi.
Malignaggi brings up a good point about the preconceived notions that a lot of boxing fans and possibly judges had about Golovkin-Canelo 2 fight. They thought that Golovkin was going to be the one that came forward with the Mexican style. So when the opposite happened and Canelo was the one that came forward with the Mexican style, they naturally saw him as the winner. It was game over in their eyes. Golovkin did a great job of boxing Canelo, and got the better of him during the major portion of the second half of the fight.
”When it comes to boxing, Golovkin won the fight. Golovkin was never near the ropes at all, so this backing up thing is a bit exaggerated, because if he was backing up, he would have been on the ropes,” Malignaggi said. ”He would have been on the ropes. He was in the center of the ring, he boxed well. I think the wrong guy won the fight. I think a draw would have been really nice to see. I think Golovkin coming forward so much in the first fight made Canelo realize that he needed to hold his ground a little more. Do I think he [Canelo] should have been busier and use his jab more? That’s why I think he lost the fight,” Malignaggi said.
It’s unreasonable to expect Canelo to use his jab in his fights because he lacks the arm-length to out-jab his opponents like GGG. Even when the 5’8” Canelo was fighting at 154, his opponents still have the reach on him. Canelo is just a little taller than the 5’7” welterweight Keith Thurman, and he lacks the height to jab guys in the middleweight division. Canelo hasn’t fought any of the tall fighters from te middleweight division. When Canelo gets inside the ring with the 6’0” Jermall Charlo, 6’0”, 5’11” and 6’1” Demetrius Andrade, he’s going to have fits trying to get to them with his shorter arms. Canelo had problems landing his shots when Golovkin was on the outside last Saturday. It’s going to be more of a problem when Canelo gets in there with the taller middleweights.
“He did well in doing that,” Malignaggi said about GGG boxing Canelo. “He circled the ring and he never went up against the rope. Golovkin, you never knew he had that dimension in him. A guy that goes backwards and never touches his back against the ropes. It’s called boxing. You’re boxing to the textbook tee. I thought Golovkin was the more compete fighter,” Malignaggi said.
There it is right there. Malingnaggi says Golovkin is the more complete figher. I think that’s what a lot of boxing fans are saying now.
Now the big question is will Canelo show some courage and take on Jermall Charlo next or will he take the easy fight against David Lemieux that many boxing fans expect him to. That would be a weak move on Canelo’s part, and show that he’s not willing to continue to fight the best. Charlo is Canelo’s WBC mandatory challenger. If Cnaelo wants to prove that he deserves to be the WBC title, then he needs to defend the belt against Charlo and not go afer the soft fight against Lemieux, who was beaten just last year by Billy Joe Saunders and stopped by Golovkin in 2015.
“Jermall Charlo is a monster,” Malignaggi said in talking about possible opponents for Canelo’s fight in December.
