Forget the facts behind what?s really what, the story painted eventually becomes the accepted reality?
Most people watching the first Canelo-Golovkin bout were entertained, acknowledging that the fight, after two tedious years of buildup and he-said/he-said drama over why it wasn?t happening already, was a pretty good scrap?until the scorecards were read.
Gennady Golovkin fans had a mass hissy fit at the announced split-decision draw and members of the boxing media, who had been fawning over Golovkin ever since he hit America with his humble killer, ?big drama show? routine five years earlier, soiled their panties in unison.
Judge Adalaide Byrd?s ridiculous 118-110 score for Canelo obscured the reality that this fight WAS close and that a draw, although very anticlimactic for those with two years invested in the will-they-fight or won?t-they-fight soap opera, was a completely fair outcome.
The reason for the outrage was simple. ?Purist? fans and the media really, really wanted Golovkin to win and, in a best case scenario, beat Saul Alvarez into a ginger pulp.
The love affair with Golovkin is not hard to understand.
In a sport obsessed with casting backwards glances and embracing the macho fairytale stories of past heroes, Golovkin is a present-day counter to the jaded, business-talking fighters purists abhor. In the minds of his rabid supporters ?Triple G? is the smiling assassin who only exists to kick ass and scare all the sissy millionaire champions into hiding. Golovkin is what boxing would be if written and cast by adolescent boys?or frustrated middle-aged boxing scribes with waning testosterone levels.
On the other hand, Canelo is the pretty boy matinee idol, star to teenie-boppers, whose road to stardom just seemed too damn easy.
That?s the narrative that followed both fighters to the ring September 16 of last year. That?s still the story today, just days before their rematch. Alvarez?s clenbuterol debacle earlier this year only reinforced this narrative.
Forget the facts behind what?s really what, the story painted eventually becomes the accepted reality. Golovkin IS an offensive marvel and the top middleweight in the world at the moment, but he?s also someone who has had a remarkably painless free ride throughout the vast majority of his 8-year, 21-fight championship run. But Canelo, who WAS gifted a couple of world titles and has been treated with extreme deference because of his drawing power, didn?t exactly come from a place of privilege in his early life and, truth be told, has actually faced better, more complex opposition than Golovkin.
At some point, as a writer trying to be fair, it?s tiring to keep pretending that the whining and hand wringing is coming from both sides of this Canelo-GGG drama. One has to toss in mentions of whiny Canelo fans, just to make it clear that bias is not in play and that the intention is not to churn out ?anti-Golovkin? pieces.
But that?s just being disingenuous and intellectually dishonest. The fact of the matter is that, really, it?s the Golovkinites?both fans and media-fans?who are the crybaby whiners and buzzkills in this scenario who will piss in the punchbowl if they can?t have all the Hi-C for themselves.
And they?ll totally do it again if Canelo doesn?t have the decency to let himself be knocked out this Saturday or if the judges don?t give ?their? guy every benefit of every doubt on the scorecards.
That?s why there?s a touch of dread coming along with the intrigue of the rematch. No outcome other than a dominant and decisive Golovkin victory will be allowed to stand. If Golovkin fails to shine or, worse yet, Canelo wins, the outcome will be dumped on with a fetid load of conspiracy theories and excuses.
As in their first encounter, the quality of the bout will be obscured underneath layers of wet blankets unless the Golovkinites get their way. The biggest fight of the year will be turned into a complete waste of time if this macho fairy tale about a humble killer from Kazakhstan doesn?t get a happy ending.
Brace yourself for the wrath of the Golovkinites.
