Las Vegas

By Ron Harris – Undisputed super middleweight champion, (168 pounds), Canelo Alvarez cruised to a unanimous decision over 40-year-old Gennady Golovkin to retain his titles in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile arena in front of a packed house.  The judges scored the fight, 116-112 and 115-113 twice for Canelo.

The fight was not a rugged affair.  No fighter was rocked during the contest.  There were very few clinches and no fighter looked like he had been in a 12-round battle at the end of the fight. Between the two, they had fought 49 title fights.  GGG decided to use his jab for the first 8 rounds and rarely threw any hard shots, while Canelo was trying to take GGG’s head off with every shot.  GGG throws more jabs than any other fighter in the game today.  That is good if you are following up with right crosses and left hooks.  He was lacking any power shots all night until the final 4 rounds. 

Both fighters are destined for the International Boxing Hall of Fame.  Both have had great careers.  This trilogy did not have the flavor of Ali – Frazier or Bowe-Holyfield trilogies.  The last fight between the two was 4 years ago.  Many observers thought GGG (42-2-1) won the first fight that ended in a draw.  The second fight was close, but several people thought GGG won that fight, too.  Canelo (58-2-2) was awarded the victory by majority decision.  That’s 106 fights between the two with only 4 losses.  32-year-old Canelo would have to go up to light heavyweight to avenge his last loss to Dmitry Bivol.  That was not a good showing for him. 

“Thank you, my friend,” says Canelo to GGG.  “We gave the fans 3 good fights, thank you my friend.”  The bad words between the two were only promotional words.  Both are tremendous sportsman.  “I’ve gone through some difficult things in my life and the only thing you can do is go forward,” says Canelo.  “I had a difficult time with my defeat, but I have actually shown that defeats are great, and I am able to come back.”  Canelo had said before the fight that he would look for a knockout early in the fight but said he injured his left hand in the early rounds.  “He is a very tough fighter, and my hand was in pain.”

As for GGG, he must have realized that maybe he was losing the fight because in the last 4 rounds he picked up the pace and made the scores closer in the end.  “We trained well for this fight”, says GGG. As for his slow early pace, “He is Canelo, one of the best, so I had to be careful.”  Then he reached over and hugged Canelo.  There will not be a 4^th fight between these two warriors. 

About Ron Harris

Ron Harris, retired college administrator, coach, broadcaster, Internet and TV sports producer and host. Former radio host of a live call-in show.  Extremely close to the sports landscape in the Washington, DC metro area. Former radio sports reporter, covering MLB, college sports, major boxing events and much more.