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THE ROAD TO THE CANELO-GGG REMATCH By Maloney L. Samaco PhilBoxing.com Sun, 16 Sep 2018  The first Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin match, billed as Supremacy, was for the unified WBA (Super),WBC, IBF, IBO, and The Ring middleweight championship. It was fought on September 16, 2017, at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. The rematch is billed Canelo vs. GGG 2, and it will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on September 15, 2018. It will be for the WBA (Super), WBC, and IBO and vacant The Ring middleweight titles. The first encounter, fought in front of a sell out crowd of 22,358 ended in a split draw, as Dave Moretti scored it 115?113 for Golovkin, Adalaide Byrd saw it 118?110 for Alvarez, and Don Trella had it 114?114 even. ESPN's Dan Rafael and HBO's Harold Lederman scored the fight 116?112 in favor of Golovkin. Byrd's scorecard of 118?110 in favor of Alvarez was heavily mocked. Several experts believed that Golovkin had won the closely contested fight, and a scorecard that gave Alvarez a wide advantage was considered unjustifiable. However, Bob Bennett, director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), trusted Byrd's score. Inspite of the controversial scoring, many boxing scribes and journalists referred to the fight as a "classic" bout. Golovkin was successful in his 19th consecutive defense, just one less the record of the legendary Bernard Hopkins. CompuBox stats showed that Golovkin landed 218 of 703 thrown (31%), while Alvarez connected 169 of his 505 thrown (33%). Golovkin statistically out pointed Alvarez in 10 of the 12 rounds fought. The fight surpassed the Mayweather-Alvarez fight, achieving the third highest gate revenues in boxing history. According to ESPN, the fight generated $27,059,850 from 17,318 tickets sold. There were 934 complimentary tickets distributed as reported by the NSAC. Mayweather vs. Alvarez sold 16,146 tickets for a gate income of $20,003,150.  Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin during their first fight. The LA Times reported the fight generated 1.3 million domestic PPV buys with estimated revenues exceeding $100 million. The controversial decision with the disputed Byrd scorecard resulted in the arrangements for an immediate rematch. Alvarez was interested to fight in May 2018, but Golovkin wanted to have it in December 2017. ESPN reported that Alvarez, who between the two had the rematch clause in his contract, had to propose the second fight within three weeks from their first fight. On September 19, Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez told ESPN that they were interested in holding the rematch and offered to discuss it with Tom Loeffler in the next few days. On September 24, Gomez announced that the second fight would likely take place in the first week of May 2018. At its 55th annual convention in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 2, the WBC officially ordered a rematch. Golden Boy president Eric Gomez told ESPN that even if WBC did or didn't order the rematch, they are going to try to make it happen. On December 20, Gomez announced that the negotiations were close to being finalized after Alvarez gave Golden Boy the go-signal to draft the contracts. On January 29, 2018 HBO officially announced the rematch would be held on May 5, 2018. Both fighters declared that during the second fight, the judges score would not be needed, because both fighters promised to knock each other. The New York City's Madison Square Garden bidded for the fight, but the rematch was scheduled to be held again at the T-Mobile Arena. The future of the rematch was imperiled on March 5, 2018, when Alvarez was tested positive in two random urine tests for the banned performance enhancing substance clenbuterol. The NSAC conducted an investigation, and Alvarez was temporarily suspended on March 23, 2018 and a hearing was scheduled on April 10. In the hearing, Alvarez faced the possible sanction of a one-year suspension. Loeffler said that Golovkin wanted to fight on May 5, regardless of who the opponent was. Former light middleweight world title challenger Vanes Martirosyan, an Armenian-American challenger, was picked to replace Alvarez. Golovkin knocked Martirosyan out in round 2 to tie Bernard Hopkins' record of 20 consecutive middleweight title defenses. On March 29, 2018, NSAC boss Bennett filed a formal complaint against Alvarez, and it delayed the disciplinary hearing to April 18, the commission's next monthly meeting. The delay caused more uncertainty for the fight to push through, as the T-Mobile Arena announced that it would offer full refunds of the tickets sold. On April 3, 2018, Alvarez officially declared his withdrawal from the fight. Gomez stated that it is unfortunate that Canelo won't be cleared to fight in May. He was hopeful that this matter will be resolved and they are hoping Canelo will be cleared so they can reschedule the fight for August or September. Alvarez was then given a six-month suspension which is retroactive from the date that the first positive test was collected on February 17, 2018, so the suspension would end August 17, 2018. On June 13, 2018, Alvarez and Golovkin signed a new contract to hold their rematch for September 15, 2018. After several negotiations Golovkin agreed to a 55-45 purse split in favor of Alvarez. The weigh-in took place at the T-Mobile Arena before 9,000 fans. Golovkin took to the scale first and weighed 159.6 pounds. Alvarez followed and weighed a shade lighter at 159.4 pounds. The traditional face-off was in wrangle and it was the first time the two boxers had seen each other eye to eye as the publicity of the rematch has been filled up with insults and barbs exchanged by both camps. It was Alvarez who went as close as he could during the staredown and drove his forehead into his opponent?s head, but Golovkin was tranquil, staring right back until they were separated after about 15 seconds, cutting the face-off short. According to the NSAC, Alvarez would get an official purse of $5 million and Golovkin would earn a $4 million purse. With the PPV revenues, Alvarez would earn an estimated $40 million and Golovkin could earn $30 million. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.  |
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