By Minnie Larry
Venue: T Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
The new WBC, IBO Middleweight Champion of the World is Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34KOs) after a tremendous win over Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34KOs) at the T Mobile Arena , Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Round 1 saw Golovkin lead with a steady jab, while Canelo lunged trying to connect to the body. By the end of the 2nd round, GGG is seen with ice over the right corner of his eye, after Canelo lets off stiff left jabs in rapid succession- causing the visible contusion. Round 4 saw Both men at a stalemate, staying safe. By the 5th, The counter- punching Canelo is looking for the KO win sitting back on punches.
After taking punishment from eating body shots, Golovkin ends the round with a powerful straight right, to close the round- becoming a tad riskier. Gennady Golovkin left, followed by a straight right seals round 10. After 11th round bell, Golovkin has Alvarez against the ropes for the first time, peppering brick shots upstairs!
The 12th and final round saw both men set off like rockets with an even exchange of back and forth action. Golovkin pushes forward, stinging Alvarez to the brink with upstairs straight shots- with Canelo not withstanding GGG’s body punch volume increase.
Canelo Alvarez would get a majority decision win with scores of 114-114, and 115-113×2.
In the 364 days since their last matchup, back on September, 16, 2017, a lot has transpired. First, the scoring. In the world of boxing, judges have been publicly scrutinized more than any criminal facing his judgement. Yet this is the only sport where assessors are not held to the fire for grandiose decisions, ending with unfair or unreasonable results.
The fight ended in a lopsided split draw decision with Dave Moretti scoring the bout 115-13 for Golovkin, Adalaide Byrd scoring the match 118-110 for Alvarez, and Don Trella scoring the fight 114-114, leaving the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBO and IBF belts around the waist of Golovkin. Later the next year he would be stripped of the IBF belt due to refusing his mandatory opponent, Vanes Martirosyian, scheduled for May 5, 2018.
After the draw, many fight fans felt cheated right along with Golovkin. Then “Meat-Gate” happens. Now, the eagerly anticipated rematch is put on hold because of some so called tainted Mexican beef that supposedly caused Alvarez to fail 2 consecutive drug tests! Okay, could this get any worse for the boxing world?
Fast forward
After the legal mumbo jumbo since the failed test and back and forth accusations on both sides, fans make their way back to T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada to sweat it out for the rematch of the year. To a surprise to some and complete adulation to others, Canelo Alvarez proves he is the Middleweight Man to beat with a sensational, well fought victory.
