By Mark Eisner: Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) defeated Gennadiy Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) by a surprisingly close 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their trilogy fight on DAZN PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo dominated the first seven rounds, outworking and outboxing the 40-year-old Golovkin, who looked like he was gunshy.
However, in the championship rounds from eight to twelve, Canelo gassed out, and Golovkin took over the fight to finish strong. Unfortunately for Golovkin, he started too late to make up the difference from the earlier rounds.
The judges’ scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113. The win for Canelo ends the rivalry between him and Golovkin. It’s not the knockout that Canelo wanted, but at least he got the victory.
Undercard results:
- WBC super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) put on a low-blow clinic tonight in beating Israel Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision. Rodriguez seemed to lose his cool after getting worked over to the body in the first seven rounds by the far more experienced Gonzalez. In the eighth round, Bam Rodriguez repeatedly nailed Gonzalez with blow blows after accidentally head-butting him. Rodriguez looked like he was bothered by the body shots that Gonzalez was hitting him with, as he normally faces headhunters. He’s quite good at getting out of the way of shots to the head, but tonight, he showed that he couldn’t avoid getting hit to the body. The judges’ scores were 118-109, 117-110, and 114-113. The first two scores were dreadfully poor, as Bam Rodriguez appeared to barely edge it. Boxing News 24 scored it 114-113 for Rodriguez. The scores were terrible, as was the performance from Rodriguez. It would be a good idea for Bam Rodriguez’s management to give up on their idea of matching him against Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez because he’s not good enough. Had this been Chocolatito in there tonight, Rodriguez would have lost badly. In the future, hopefully Bam doesn’t continue to throw low blows when fights aren’t going his way.
- Super middleweight contender Ali Akhmedov (19-1 14 KOs) easily defeated veteran Gabriel Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs) by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90. The 36-year-old Rosado was missing his shots by a mile and looking like his reflexes were shot. In the tenth round, Rosado went all out trying to score a knockout, but he was unable to land often enough to bother Akhmedov. The performance by Rosado was worse than his recent losses to Shane Mosley Jr and Jaime Munguia. With the defeat, Rosado has now lost his last three fights.
- Unbeaten middleweight prospect Austin “Ammo” Williams (12-0, 9 KOs) defeated Kieron Conway (18-3-1, 4 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBA international title. The fight was competitive early, but Williams took over in the championship rounds and dominated. Conway suffered a bloody nose in the ninth round and was dropped The judges’ scores were 96-93, 97-92, and 97-92.
- Undefeated super middleweight Diego Pacheco (16-0, 13 KOs) destroyed an overmatched Enrique Collazo (16-3-1, 11 KOs) by a fifth round knockout. After an uneventful first four rounds, Pacheco hurt Collazo with a big right hand in the fifth round and then hammered him with lefts to the body until he went down. After Collazo got back up, Pacheco teed off with heavy shots to the head, resulting in the referee stepping in to halt the contest. Collazo was still on his feet but was taking too much punishment. The time of the stoppage was at 2:29 of the fifth round. Earlier in the contest, Collazo showed no interest in letting his hands go, which made things easy for Pacheco to dominate the fight.
- Super featherweight prospect Marc Castro (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Kevin Montiel (6-2-2, 3 KOs) in the fifth round with a highlight reel right uppercut that laid him out. Late in the fourth round, the 23-year-old Castrol hurt Montiel with a right hand to the head, causing him to do a stutter step. Although Montiel protested to the referee that the punch hit him to the back of the head, he wasn’t buying it. When Montiel came out for the fifth, he still looked shaken up from the previous round and was unable to keep Castro off him. The time of the stoppage was at 1:40.
- Unbeaten light welterweight Aaron Aponte (6-0-1, 2 KO’s) and Fernando Molina (8-0-1, 3 KO’s) fought to a disappointing eight round draw. Aponte dropped Molina in the second round. In the fifth, Molina knocked Aponte down with a big right hand. The scores were 76-74 for Molina, 76-74 for Aponte, and 75-75.
- Undefeated super flyweight prospect Anthony Herrera (3-0-1, 2 KO) defeated Delvin McKinley (4-4-1, 4 KOs) by a fifth round technical decision. In the fifth round, there was a clash of heads, resulting in McKinley being too hurt to continue. The judges scored it 50-45, 50-45, and 50-45.
Preview:
Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) is the favorite, but Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) feels confident that he’s going to have his hand raised with an upset.
This is a fight that Golovkin has been waiting for since 2018, and he’s finally getting his opportunity to face Canelo for the third time.
“The whole card from top to bottom. Not only is this the biggest Canelo fight we’ve ever done, but it’s also the best card with it,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, for me, I think, is going to be the Fighter of the Year. Israel Gonzalez, who pushed Chocolatito all the way and arguably beat Kal Yafai in Monaco for the world title as well. This is a brilliant fight.
“I think Jesse Rodriguez may already be pound-for-pound one of the top fighters in the sport. Ali Akhmedov against Gabe Rosado is an absolute all-out war.
“What about Kieran Conway against Ammo Williams, Diego Pacheco against Enrique Collazo, Aaron Aponte against Fernando Molina, and you’ve got Marc Castro in a great fight.
“When you build a card sometimes, you get it right from top to bottom, and this is the perfect example.
“Not only do you have the biggest fight in boxing [Canelo vs. Golovkin], but you’ve got a card where the fight fans can tune in on DAZN or be in the arena early doors and watch an unbelievable night of entertainment,” said Hearn.
“I’m going with Canelo. Canelo, of course, took a loss to Bivol. I think he it off more than he could chew at that time,” said Devin Haney to DAZN. “I think Bivol caught him slipping, but I think GGG is past his prime.
“He’s still a dangerous fighter because he can punch, but I think Canelo should beat him,” said Haney.
“I think if GGG comes in there with his A-game, he’ll beat Canelo,” said Chris Eubank Jr. “I feel like that loss to Bivol may have really affected him mentally.
“He now knows he isn’t indestructible, which he thought he was. So, yeah, I’m going to go with GGG.”
“I think this is going to be the best fight of all three. The spite in this fight, the bad intentions in this fight are on another level,” said Eddie Hearn.
“I don’t know which way it’s going to go. I do make Canelo Alvarez the favorite. One thing I absolutely guarantee is this fight will not go 12 rounds this time.
“Both guys are going in there with one thing on their mind, and that’s to win this fight inside the distance,” said Hearn.
“That’s a tough one. I’m going to have to give it to Canelo this time. I gave it to GGG the last two fights, but I’m going to have to give it to Canelo this time,” said Nonito Donaire.
“Canelo wants to prove himself. He wants to prove himself so that he can rematch Bivol and get that confidence level that he had in the past. He learned from the first fight not to just go for the power shot. Utilize everything that he has,” said Donaire.
“I think Canelo is going to stop GGG,” said Regis Prograis. “Why, I just think that with him coming off a loss, he’s going to go back in the gym and be more serious and dedicated.
“GGG is like 41 years old. Canelo is way younger. I think Canelo might stop him.”
“I’m a GGG fan, but I think Canelo is in his prime; he’s still learning and is still growing. I think he takes the win against GGG,” said Mikaela Mayer.
“As Paulie Malignaggi says, the politics ain’t going to let Canelo lose,” said Antonio Tarver. “They’re not going to let him lose. So what GGG has to do is take it out of the judges’ hands.
“Does he have the power and the ability, the tenacity to stop Canelo? That remains to be seen. I know he [Golovkin] has waited around for this contest for a long time.
“Really, not trying to take any risks to sour or spoil this opportunity. Sometimes, you can be sitting and waiting on a guy for too long, and the fight isn’t there.
“I think Canelo has a lot to prove coming off of that Bivol fight. He’s still defending his undisputed championship, so there’s something there for Canelo.
“Let’s say Canelo wins this impressively. Come on, Canelo, you’ve got to give us the fight we want to see, bro. You got to give us the Benavidez. You got to give us the Charlo, bro.
“We need to see those fights. I’m not saying these guys beat Canelo. I’m just saying I want to see Canelo fight the best,” said Tarver.
Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin will be going at it tonight on DAZN PPV in their trilogy clash at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is the fight that will determine who the better fighter is among these two superstars, and it should be exciting as long as it lasts.
The pay-per-view portion of the card begins at 8:00 p.m. ET, and the main event is expected to take place at approximately 11:00 p.m. ET. Boxing News 24 will be giving live updates & results of tonight’s action below.
