By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin have unfinished business after their two fights both ended in controversy with the fight fans believing the judges failed to get it right with their scoring.
The fans want to see Canelo and Golovkin meet for a third fight so they can finally decide who the better guy is between. Golovkin deserved the victory in their first fight in 2017, which was scored a 12 round draw.
In 2018, Canelo was given a 12 round decision in their rematch, but the fans disagreed with it. They noted that Canelo gassed out badly, turning red in the face, and continuously ate jobs from the fifth round.
Not surprisingly, many fans felt that Golovkin was robbed twice against Canelo, getting the business from the Nevada judges for the two fights, which were staged at the same venue in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Although Canelo fought better in the rematch with GGG, he faded after the fifth round and was outworked from the sixth round on.
Sean Jones had Golovkin sweeping every round from the sixth, giving him a victory by a 115-113 score.
For some reason, Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) seems satisfied with his controversial 12 round majority decision win over Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) in their rematch on September 15th, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo vs. GGG = Unfinished business
“What has to happen for us to get Canelo and GGG in the ring for the third time?” said Max Kellerman on Max on Boxing.
“I think GGG would have to agree to a reasonable amount of money because he’s a big star, and he’s making 40% or maybe even more,” said Mike Coppinger on what Gennady Golovkin would need to do for him to get a trilogy match against Canelo.
“I think at this point; it’s been three or four years in September of 2018. Canelo has really skyrocketed past GGG, and for me, this is a fight that makes the most sense for Canelo,” Coppinger said of believing that Alvarez can make the most money fighting Golovkin.
“It’s the biggest commercial fight out there, and they have unfinished business. We’re talking about two guys that have fought 24 rounds. I don’t think you can confidently say one guy.
“So, I think it’s a no-brainer, and I think it’s for a legacy for Canelo. They had two really close fights, and you do it at 168, and I think from nothing else; we saw from Fury-Wilder 3 that you can never truly count out the underdog in a rivalry when two guys truly hate each other,” said Coppinger of Canelo and Golovkin.
“And they’re two great fighters,” said Kellerman of Alvarez and GGG. “Let me say this, though. I thought GGG was going to beat Canelo heading into their first fight, and I thought he did, but a draw was okay.
“You could go anywhere from 8-4 to 6-6, so it was a draw for Canelo. In the rematch, I thought Canelo won the fight, and he got it right.
“And since then, one of the reasons Canelo has taken off is because he’s been more dominant against better opposition than GGG, who has not been as dominant against top opposition.
“So, things have changed but never mind the fact Canelo’s not only considered the best pound-for-pound, but he’s also the biggest box office draw. Things have changed from several years ago, as you mentioned,” said Kellerman.
Canelo has been a lot more active than Golovkin in the last four years, and you can’t dispute that fact. Golovkin has wasted his potential by fighting just three times against marginal opposition in Steve Rolls, Kamil Szeremeta, and Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Still, Canelo’s opposition has also been poor, and his focus on becoming the undisputed champion at 168 has been transparently shallow on his part.
Instead of trying to fight quality opposition that would create a legacy for himself in a natural way, Canelo has gone about it superficially by beating weak champions from England and the U.S. They arguably should have never held world titles if they’d been forced to fight talents like David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr.
Thurman admits Canelo has cherry-picked
“Yes, but so what?” said ‘One Time’ Keith Thurman to FightHubTV about Canelo Alvarez cherry-picking his opposition and steering a wide berth around David Benavidez, the guy that fans want him to fight.
“He’s Canelo. The people love him. He has a huge following. He’s brought tons of excitement. You can say he’s cherry-picked a little bit but he kind of learned from the best. He got beat by Floyd [Mayweather Jr], and now he’s starting to make money like Floyd.”
“Are there greater challengers for Canelo Alvarez? Most definitely. Are there super talented individuals that might be able to give him problems? Definitely. Does he have to do any of those things? Not,” said Thurman in sounding like Canelo’s ENABLER & little helper.
With the way that Thurman is smothering Canelo with compliments, it sounds like he’s holding out hope that he’ll look his way and throw him a bone. Sean Jones hates to be the one that drizzles on Thurman’s parade, but it’s NOT happening.
Canelo isn’t going to give him a cash-out payday to send him into retirement with a golden parachute.
We don’t need Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman to tell us that Canelo has been cherry-picking. I mean, it’s evident in looking at ALL the opposition that Canelo has fought since late 2018.
Ever since Canelo’s controversial win over Golovkin in September 2018, he’s been padding his record against consistently weak opposition in the form of paper champions, ex-sparring partners, and over-the-hill former champions.
Canelo’s opposition since late 2018:
- Rocky Fielding
- Avni Yildirim – Canelo’s ex-sparring partner
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Caleb Plant
- Sergey Kovalev
- Callum Smith
- Daniel Jacobs
Callum, Kovalev, Plant, Fielding, and Saunders were all considered paper champions when Canelo PICKED them to pad his record. Rather than fighting the talented opposition below, Canelo went for the lowest common denominator.
Canelo consistently picked the lowest hanging fruit and was given a free pass by DAZN. If Sean Jones were one of DAZN’s top brass, he would have blocked all of the opponents Canelo has picked since 2018 and insisted that he fight quality opposition from my list below.
DAZN was paying Canelo a truckload of money to fight on their platform, and instead of giving them the best quality opposition to help their company, he fought the above list.
The opposition Canelo SHOULD have fought since 2018:
- Gennadiy Golovkin – trilogy
- David Benavidez
- Artur Beterbiev
- David Morrell Jr.
- Demetrius Andrade
- Dmitry Bivol
- Lawrence Okolie
- Mairis Briedis
