Four years is a long time in boxing, a clear indication of which could be witnessed from Saturday nights fight which was unable to match the high expectation from fight fans.
Unlike the previous two encounters, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) left no doubt on a winner with a unanimous decision victory over Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Golovkin put himself at a disadvantage in the early rounds, allowing Canelo to dictate the pace of the fight to pull away on the scorecards.
It wasn’t until the ninth that Golovkin was able to put together an offensive, the right hand finally finding it’s mark.
The uppercut in particular was a potent threat for Golovkin, set-up by a sharp jab. An accidental head-butt opened up a cut over the right eye of Alvarez in the 11th.
In the end, the resurgence of Golovkin was not enough to take the scorecards who were all unanimous by scores of 115-113 x 2 for Alvarez while a third judge had it 116-112.
Alvarez embraced Golovkin afterwards saying, “Thank you so much, my friend. Thank you for everything. We give the fans three good fights.”
Alvarez told media at ringside that his hand is “f—ed up from the Caleb Plant fight,”
“I’ve gone through some very difficult things in my life, and the only thing you can do is to try and continue and move forward,” Alvarez said. “I’ve gone through difficult times with my defeats, and I’ve shown that defeats are great. It enables you to come back and show humility.”
Golovkin was not too downbeat claiming he would return amid rumours he could retire.
“Remember, I have [two] belts at 160. I come back, I’m still champion,” said Golovkin, who was making his 168-pound debut.
“Everybody knows this is high-level class. This is the best fighter in boxing. Everyone knows who is Canelo. It’s a huge fight. Look at his face; look at my face. We trained well, and this shows that we did a very good-quality fight,” he said.
“This fight is more tactical. Today, Canelo is better. Congrats to Canelo.”
BAM RETAINS TITLE, OUTPOINTS GONZALEZ!
WBC super flyweight champion, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (17-0 11 KOs) retained his title via twelve round unanimous decision over Israel Gonzalez (28-5-1 11 KOs)
In a solid back and forth encounter, The challenger Gonzalez let his hands go from the start, most of which were countered by the efficient Rodriguez. A low blow by Gonzalez prompted referee Kenny Bayless to issue a warning.
Rodriguez and Gonzalez exchanged great shots after the fifth, both men looking to put an exclamation mark on a bout. Rodriguez pressed the action but Gonzalez was going nowhere. a low blow by Rodriguez forced another warning from Bayless with a point deduction in the eighth for a further low blow.
Rodriguez was close to a disqualification late on in the contest from yet another low blow as both men traded shots in close but after the conclusion of the bout, the judging was in agreement of a winner by scores of 118-109, 117-110, and 114-113.
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