The T-Mobile Arena hosted a bumper crowd who were gathered to witness the trilogy fight between a rivalry that had been going for a half-decade. The two future boxing legends Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin locked horns once more in a bout that put Canelo’s unified super-middleweight championship belts (IBF, WBA, WBO, WBC & The Ring) on the line.
It was an eagerly awaited fight, and a highly anticipated one since it was announced that it was going to be happening. This is especially since many fans were left unsatisfied with the previous two results of the previous fights between these two greats, with much controversy surrounding the first fight result more especially that ended in a draw. Now they were lined up to face each other for the third time in the space of 5 years. No boxing fa would wait for this one to end the trilogy decided and the better fighter decided between these two.
Round after round for the first 6 rounds were all Canelo just asserting his dominance and outlanding the Kazakhstan with precision boxing and technical boxing. GGG was also throwing his punches but Canelo’s movement proved to be of a high level, with the 40-year old missing more punches than he was landing. The 32-year old champion’s famous bodyshots were also on display at certain times in the first six rounds, often coming as a reaction to him getting touched by GGG. It is without a doubt that the Mexican was ahead on the scorecards halfway through the fight, even on the unofficial scorecards, he had won every single round of the first 6.
In round number 7 GGG’s toughness and resilience was shown when he decided to take the fight to Canelo instead, and both fighters locked up in the middle of the ring exchanging blows and timing their shots cautiously but with power. It was a close round that would also eventually go Canelo’s way with the better landing rate between the two. The 8th round also seemed like a close round and again it was visible that Canelo hat the better punching rate. It was the 9th round that was Golovkin’s best round, where he clearly outboxed the champion and often at times backing him up to a corner and forcing him to clinch.
After that it was back to a Canelo masterclass again, but credit should also be given to GGG because even though it seemed like he was dominated he was also putting up a fight for the fans at 40-years old. The bout went on until it came down to the judges’ decision and expectedly it was Canelo who came out on top to retain his status as undisputed super-middleweight champion. Winning by 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112 on the judges scorecards. Many were expecting Canelo to announce his retirement then but he has signified that he will keep going and it is not over. Canelo looks to a rematch against Dmitry Bivol (if Bivol is able to defend against his next opponent), and vows that he “will beat him”.
