Golovkin still unbeaten despite Canelo Alvarez draw
Boxing's mega fight between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez has ended in a disappointing draw in Las Vegas on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
The Kazakh slugger put his his WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO belts on the line against the Mexican fighter.
* REMATCH?: GGG-Canelo keen for another super fight
A hard-fought, close and competitive fight was a split draw, with Adalaide Byrd favoring Alvarez 118-110, Dave Moretti taking Golovkin 115-113 and Don Trella calling it even 114-114.
Yahoo Sports had it 115-113 for Golovkin.
Canelo had the lions' share of support inside a packed T-Mobile arena but it didn't seem to faze his opponent in the slightest.
Both fighters took cagey approaches to the opening two rounds, happy to feel each other out ease their way into the contest.
Alvarez may have just edged the early rounds but the longer the fight went on the more GGG began to stamp his dominance.
By the ninth round GGG clearly had his opponent tiring although the Mexican still proved dangerous after landing a few telling blows on his opponent's chin.
Canelo upped the ante in the tenth round, hitting Golovkin with several powerful hooks.
The fight was billed as a throwback match and it was compared to many great middleweight bouts, such as Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns and Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad.
The heavyweight title fight in April between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko will keep its grip on the Fight of the Year award, though no one was complaining about what they saw on Saturday.
It was the judging, though, that will be the story of this fight. Golovkin’s aggressiveness and his right hands apparently weren’t seen by Byrd, who tolled off round after round for Alvarez.
Did they bring these judges over from Australia? 😂 #CaneloGGG
— Manny Pacquiao (@mannypacquiao) September 17, 2017
Adalaide Byrd should never judge another fight. She should never be allowed outside of a padded cell after that. Disgusting. #GGGCanelo
— Dave the Hater (@BoxingAsylumWhy) September 17, 2017
GGG got robbed. This is why people hate boxing. #GGGCanelo
— Mike Miller (@yankee2479) September 17, 2017
It is hard to argue with the work of either Moretti or Trella, because the fight was close and it could have gone for either man 7-5. A draw certainly is not unreasonable.
Byrd’s card, though, took the energy out of a crowd which was on its feet and roaring its heart out as the fight came down the stretch.
There is a rematch clause in favor of Alvarez, but it seems logical given the unsatisfying result that it will be exercised.