Fresh off the press, the highly anticipated rematch of last year’s controversial draw between middleweight king Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is finally officially on. Cinco de Mayo is our date as it was always going to be. This will likely be the biggest fight in the sport during all of 2018.
There was much talk about the first fight being a robbery, but I didn’t see it that way. I scored it 115-113 for Golovkin. This means that if only one close round had gone the other way on my card, then the draw that we ended up with would have been my score as well. There were many difficult rounds to score too. Often Canelo would start a round very hot and then GGG would take over late, resulting in the two of them basically splitting the frame down the middle. Of course, Adelaid Byrd’s 118-110 card for Canelo was patently absurd. HBO’s Harold Lederman scored the fight 116-112 for Golovkin.
One of my strongest memories of the first encounter was how hesitant the Mexican star’s speed made Golovkin in the first few rounds. He adjusted and won most of the second half of the fight, but I noted in my fight recap that “Triple G was extremely hesitant, nervous, and altogether unsure of himself” early. Once he began attacking more regularly, however, the Kazakhstan native did largely take over. Canelo never went completely away, but he was being pushed back and rendered much less effective in the second half of the fight.
Regardless of what anyone thought of the outcome, the first fight was boxing at its highest levels. The fight never became that back and forth war that everyone was dreaming about, but it was tense and entertaining all the way through. I will gladly sit down and watch it again. HBO PPV will once again carry the fight. There has been no talk of a undercard or price point as of yet.
