Canelo vs. GGG - The Review

In the highly anticipated rematch between Mexican superstar Saul Canelo Alverez and Gennady GGG Golovkin, controversy struck again, opposed to the saying lightning does not strike twice.

Unlike the first 12 rounds of this thrilling saga, Alverez, contrary to popular belief did exactly the tactic he claimed he would throughout the buildup and in the fight, took the centre of the ring in an action packed technical brawl.

The opening round was a tense affair with Canelo taking centre ring, a scene that became a staple of the fight as he attempted to land heavy counters against the older man. However, Golovkin chose to paint the Mexican's face with his P4P rated jab, using his straight left hand as a weapon rather than a rangefinder. By the end of the round, the role reversal of Golovkin going backwards seemed to slightly edge towards GGG, though Canelo landed a few crisp counters throughout the round.

As the first fight did, Kid Cinnamon then began to take over. This was done by him taking the next two rounds by bettering the exchanges in a real fight of inches. He landed the harder flashier shots, by landing counters, however this time off the front foot—giving him extra power and intent with every punch.

Entering round 4 is where the shift came again. Canelo expended a lot of energy in rounds 2 and 3 and the marginal drop in pace allowed the older man to time his shots from that point on consistently throughout the fight. With the exception of a few arguable Canelo rounds in the middle where Golovkin took his foot off the pace to catch breath, GGG began not to just land with his thunderous jab, but began to open up Canelo with heavy rights and uppercuts, physically making the younger man step back and cover against the ropes on multiple occasions with the heavy right.

Though each round was highly competitive and each fighter had their good moments within them, the volume of the work landed was by the Khazak and though both fighters landed crisp combinations and counters, GGG’s shots looked to take a bigger effect on his opponent.

Going into the final round on broadcasters HBO’s, BT Sport’s, PPV’s and my own card all had Golovkin up by small margins of 2-3 rounds. Yet the judges at ring side again saw a different fight.

115-113, 115-113, and 114-114 in favour of the home fighter and new unified middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alverez. The fans within the arena were shocked and Golovkin left the ring in disgust directly after the announcement.

So what now for Golovkin? The 36-year-old fighter has vocalised multiple times that his drive was to collect "#AllTheBelts" so after being stripped of his IBF belt due to the delayed fight and losing controversially that night, he is now left without any. A rematch no doubt would be a promoter's dream, but after landing his best shots at 36 and Canelo staying strong and having two wins (in his eyes) controversially taken from him, would Golovkin trust enough to try a third time? Additionally if Golovkin fights again, he would likely be 37 and again brings questions of whether or not GGG can continue at this level at 37-years-old.

Other options for Golovkin would be to face talented British belt holder Billy Joe Saunders who currently holds the WBO world title. Saunders is due to fight title challenger Demetrius Andrade later this year but if he gets past the tricky American has stated he wished to face the winner of Canelo v Golovkin 2.

Alternately he could look to recoup his IBF title; however, the IBF ordered Sergiy Derevyanchenko to fight Daniel Jacobs for the vacant middleweight title later this year too.

At the age of 36 and after the way he feels unjustly treated by boxing, will the future hall of famer simply step away from the sport?

So what about Canelo? After his win over the Khazak, he now has all of the marbles. Alverez has stated before that the belts do not add anything to what he wants to do. However, a fight with Billy Joe Saunders is the biggest grossing fight outside of a rubber match with Golovkin.

However, with tough fighters coming up such as Charlo, I believe Canelo will allow some titles to be stripped and the belts to refracture in a look for bigger money fights.

Overall, this was another fantastic boxing clinic that was unfortunately stained by a controversial performance on the scoring cards.