By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin are unofficially knotted up at 1-1 after two fights in the eyes of many fans, and the third contest between them is essential to discover who the better guy is. If they never fight again, the fans will never know who the better fighter was.
Golovkin used his jab to control the first fight, which left a black eye for boxing with the way the Nevada judges scored it. In the aftermath, the boxing world screamed ROBBERY and felt that Golovkin had gotten the business with the scoring.
Canelo faded late in both fights
In the Canelo-Golovkin rematch, many fans made up their mind that Canelo had won the fight after the first five rounds. In the second half of the conflict, Canelo gassed out and was outboxed and hurt twice by GGG. Given that there weren’t any knockdowns in the fight, it appeared to be a draw.
Canelo won most – but not all – of the first six rounds, whereas Golovkin appeared to win five of the last six rounds. It should have been enough for Golovkin to earn a 12 round draw, but the judges gave it to Canelo by a 12 round majority decision.
It’s essential that Canelo and Golovkin fight each other a third time so that the fans can get closure on the rivalry. Ideally, it would be best for the fight to be staged in natural territory instead of returning to Las Vegas.
It’s important going into the third contest that the contest ends by a knockout. Given that Canelo will probably insist on bringing it back to Las Vegas, we may need a KO to ensure that the third match doesn’t end in controversy as well.
Surprisingly, Canelo wanted to bring the second Golovkin contest back to Las Vegas after the controversy of the first fight. Look at it this way. Canelo set himself up to getting no credit from fans by taking the rematch back to Las Vegas. If Canelo is the better fighter, he should be able to beat Golovkin no matter where the fight is staged.
Canelo-Golovkin need the third fight
Golovkin got the better of Canelo in the first fight in keeping him pinned to the ropes, hammering him with jabs to the head. At times, it looked like Canelo was trying to imitate Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, he did a poor job of doing that, as he was eating Golovkin’s jabs the entire fight, and moving along the ropes aimlessly.
The judges that scored the fight appeared to ignore Golovkin’s jabs entirely and focused on the one or two hard shots that Canelo landed in each round.
Canelo and his fans may see it as pointless for him to face Golovkin a third time, but the fact of the matter is he’s got to if he wants to prove himself as the better fighter. The two fighters are still tied, and it would look bad on Canelo’s part for him to walk away.
Canelo already has two other fights against Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout that many boxing fans saw him losing. Surprisingly, Canelo never cleared up the controversy surrounding those fights by giving those fighters a rematch. That hurt Canelo more than it did them because a legion of fans still think he lost both fights.
You can’t blame Golovkin for wanting to leave the T-Mobile Arena immediately after Canelo was announced as the winner in their rematch in 2018. Why would Golovkin want to stick around and be interviewed after what he’d gone through?
Sanchez wanted Golovkin to win the 12th round
“I think it’s up to the fans if they want a trilogy and if it’s in demand,” said former GGG coach Abel Sanchez to Power 106 Los Angeles. “It’s difficult for us to criticize because when we selected these judges, we felt these were good judges.
“We all have a different perspective from the arena, from the ring and the TV. The fact is, it was a great fight, and it could have been a draw. I guess the last round was the deciding round. These two guys were separated by one round in the first fight and one round in the second fight.
“That’s how well-matched they were and how skilled they. They deserve a lot of credit. I don’t think anything went wrong,” said Sanchez when asked ‘what went wrong in the final round.’ I think Gennady may have felt that he was way ahead. I tried to explain that it was a close right, and we needed the last round.
“We got it from one judge but didn’t get it from the other two. But that was the pivotal round that made it one point for Canelo or one round for Canelo,” said Sanchez.
Like in most of the rounds, Canelo fought hard in the first minute of round 12. However, in the last two-thirds of the round, he turned red in the face, and Golovkin took over. It’s unclear why Sanchez isn’t backing his own fighter by saying that Golovkin did enough to win the 12th.
Golovkin wanted Canelo to have his moment
“No, absolutely not,” said Sanchez when asked if he was upset by Gennadiy leaving the ring immediately after it was announced that he’d lost to Canelo. “I think a lot of people misunderstood, and I’ll clear the air now. Gennadiy, while waiting for Canelo to do his interview, we thought that was his moment.
“Gennadiy motioned to me to come over to him, and he kind of explained to me that this was Canelo’s moment. Canelo was the champion. ‘Let’s get out of the ring and give him his moment.’ So it was done to alleviate any confusion and any drama in the ring. Just let him have his moment,” said Sanchez.
“Yes and no,” said Sanchez when asked if Golovkin should have stayed in the ring to answer questions by the media out of respect for Canelo. “These two camps since the beginning of the promotion have had very bad cross-words to say to each other.
“If you noticed as the bell rang for the last round, Gennady and Canelo hugged each other for quite a moment there. I’m sure that the things that were said in between them will always be confidential. They’ll always have that mutual respect until death with each other.
“So I think Gennadiy felt that it was Canelo’s moment. Let him have it. These kinds of fights give the fans a choice of what they want to spend their money on. If they want to see that fight [Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao] again that they already saw the first time, then that’s fine, but I don’t think it’s a fight that should happen,” said Sanchez.
Boxing needs Canelo vs. Golovkin level fights
“It’s a fight that happened too late,” said Sanchez. “It wasn’t a fight that happened at the top of their game like this fight [Canelo vs. Golovkin 2]. I think these types of fights between GGG and Canelo are the type of fights that bring fans back that have gone away because of fights like Manny and Floyd.
“After the fight and the decision was announced, Eric [Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions] came over and shook my hand and gave me a hug and said, ‘We have to do a third one.’ I think that’s something we have to give a little rest and get our heads cooled down. Then Eric, Tom, and Oscar [Dela Hoya] will sit down and discuss the possibilities.
“I don’t think so,” said Sanchez when asked if Golovkin still thinks Canelo is a disrespect to boxing. “These two guys went through hell. Canelo did what he had to do with the testing, and went through he had to do with 12 rounds of a hard fight.
“I think he’s proven to us that those things that we may have suspected of him may have been just what he said, the meat, but we’ll never know. I think we have to take it and not disrespect the fight they gave us bringing up things like that,” said Sanchez in giving his views on Canelo and Golovkin.
Sanchez is right about boxing needing more Canelo vs. Golovkin type fights rather than the disappointing and overpriced Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao contest. The sport doesn’t the controversial scoring that we saw in both Canelo-Golovkin fights. When the judges don’t get it right, it’s worse for boxing than boring matches like Mayweather-Pacquiao.
