Is this the biggest and best fight of the next five years? How about the next decade?
As champions in multiple weight classes continue to dance around and ultimately, avoid each other, we have to tip our caps to Gennady "GGG" Golovkin and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for getting into the same ring a second time. Obviously they'll be taking home millions upon millions, but the sting of a loss hurts the future of any veteran boxer's career. That's why other champions avoid each other -- they want to keep that money train rollin'.
But GGG and Canelo aren't back down kind of guys. Canelo took a risky fight early in his career against Floyd "Money" Mayweather and lost, and GGG will fight anyone.
Obviously, coming off two positive tests for the performance-enhancer Clenbuterol and a six-month suspension, Canelo seems to be the weaker and more amoral man, but he hates GGG at this point. And vice-versa. That means this is anybody's game.
From a technical standpoint, most of us know the deal by now -- GGG is going to be the aggressor, pushing forward and applying constant pressure to Canelo. On the other hand, Canelo is a master counter-puncher with a pulverizing right hook. Just watch this jaw-dropping knockout of Amir Khan, who is a solid all-around fighter.
As fans, the two best parts for us are that (1) both GGG and Canelo have incredible punching power and aren't afraid to let haymakers fly and (2) all of the controversy has them both out for the kill. Both fighters are claiming they aren't going to the scorecards, this time. I expect this to be an action fight, and that's exactly what we want.
Now for my prediction...
Well, I can't get there without rehashing the last bout. Canelo looked fresher and quicker in the first two rounds, as GGG appeared to be showing his age and mileage. But GGG is a f***king warrior to the death. He wasn't about to go quietly. Golovkin absolutely dominated most of the middle rounds, stalking Canelo and pounding him as the latter's poor conditioning came to the surface. Canelo was gassed, and GGG should have been winning easily on points.
But, to Canelo's credit, he finished strong. Rather than folding up the tent after getting hammered in the middle rounds, the red-headed monster battled back hard down the stretch. He definitely won the last two rounds, and probably won the 10th as well.
So, in the end, what looked to be either 8 rounds to 4 or 7-5 in favor of GGG, went to the scorecards.
Enter Adalaide Byrd.
With tension in the air and bated breath, the scores were announced. The veteran judge somehow scored the fight 118-110 (10 rounds to 2)...in favor of Canelo! She scored rounds 3, 5, 6 and 8 for Canelo, four rounds that GGG CLEARLY won. Obviously, it was a robbery and a tragedy. The bout ended in a draw, despite the fact that there was no logical way to score a Canelo victory.
And the problem for Golovkin is -- it's awfully hard to beat a strong opponent, twice in a row. Just ask Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez about that. After clearly beating Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in one of the best action fights of the past decade, the judges also robbed Chocolatito. He absolutely pounded Srisaket with clean head shots all night, but the judges leaned in Sor Rungvisai's favor because of accidental contact which caused Chocolatito to bleed consistently. It was a horrendous decision based on optics.
Clearly, Chocolatito was deflated by the blatant robbery. In his rematch with Sor Rungvisai, Srisaket knocked his f***king head off. It was an utterly dominant performance in a championship bout.
But...a true champion doesn't fold like that. Yes, judges occasionally make horrendous, head-scratching decisions, but true champions push forward. They don't let it affect them. They come out in the next fight like a warrior with something to prove.
So, the storylines are similar, but I'm hoping (and assuming) GGG will respond much better than Chocolatito did.
In the end, I'll be rooting for Golovkin. He was robbed the first time around, and obviously Canelo is a cheater. It's clear who most of us should be rooting for.
But I have a bad feeling. GGG won that first one. It's hard to beat a stud like Canelo two times in a row. Gennady Golovkin is 36 years old. Canelo is just 28. This will be a war, but the young man got a gift in the first go around. Maybe GGG will be a step too slow this time. All of the luck has fallen in Canelo's favor thus far, and I'm not sure that trend is going to end.
With a heavy heart, I predict that Canelo will win, 116-112. I don't see a knockout. These guys are just too f***kin' tough.
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