At the end of the day, the fight was a good, competitive scrap with everything boxing fans claim to want from a main stage prizefight?
In the wake of Saturday?s big Canelo-Golovkin rematch at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, here are some random thoughts from my jaded, jaded mind:
?Canelo-GGG 2 was a draw on my scorecard, but 115-113 either way was in keeping with the realities of the fight. I saw some insane scores float through my Facebook timeline Saturday night?most from delusional Golovkinites?but anything beyond 115-113 for this fight should be an indication that maybe someone was scoring more on hopes and dreams than hits and misses.
?Is there even a ?maybe? to be issued at this point when it comes to Gennady Golovkin being overrated, piggybacking on a wave of hype? When lobbed softballs to hit out of the park, he is, indeed, the monster of Golovkinite dreams. However, throw a bit of complexity into the mix and the Kazakh KO machine gets brought into the non-fairy tale world.
Whether one agrees with the two Canelo decisions or not, Canelo has been extremely competitive with the ?beast? who many fans and members of the media were listing as an all-time great and comparing, with a straight face, to Marvin Hagler. Canelo is most definitely NOT anywhere near ATG level as a 160 lb. fighter, nor is he in possession of elite-level skills or physical gifts in that division, either?yet he fought GGG twice to a close decision.
Golovkin simply is what he is?A very good offensive fighter who was top dog at 160 during a down time in the division, but someone who never showed himself to be a ?next-level? fighter and never dominated a challenger he wasn?t supposed to dominate. That assessment could change, depending on what he does from this point forward for the rest of his career, but that?s what the black and white facts tell us right now.
?And please spare me the ?he could only fight those who were willing to fight him? baloney. There?ve been plenty of ?avoided? fighters throughout history who?ve found ways to challenge themselves. Having a couple of guys pass on you because of the high-risk/low-reward factor does NOT entitle you to a lifetime of soft touches.
?Was Golovkin ?getting old? the reason behind recent not-so-beastly performances, as some fans and media members like to assert? That?s impossible to tell because he never got in the ring with a live body until he was nearly 35. It is funny, though, that he looked ?like the Golovkin of old? this past May when he was allowed a soft touch gimme as a Canelo replacement. I think some slowing down at his age is a fact, but being put against opposition with the skill and ability to actually fight back has even more to do with Golovkin not looking like Golovkin these last three fights. He?s 36, but, remember, this is a guy who has barely broken a sweat through the first 37 fights of his professional career. This isn?t 1959?high-end fighters competing well into their late 30?s and even early 40?s is not all that out of the ordinary anymore.
?The one thing I truly feel good about when it comes to Golovkin losing, is that Bernard Hopkins? middleweight title defense record was not broken by a truly BS title run.
?As for Canelo. He accounted well for himself and definitely won points from an increasingly skeptical fan base for coming out aggressive and taking the fight to Golovkin.
However, Canelo once again took his foot off the gas, this time around the seventh round, let up from a strategy that was having great success, and let Golovkin back into the fight. And I say ?let? him get back into the fight because Golovkin did nothing to actually turn the tide. Rather, when Canelo stopped pushing so hard, Golovkin stepped into that void to start winning rounds. Golovkin?s effectiveness on offense, however, seemed to be limited by having taken a shellacking to the body early in the fight and, while he scored and managed to open up a long cut over Canelo?s left eye, he could never really present any sort of sustained offensive surge. One has to wonder whether Alvarez gassed out, as he has been known to do, or if he pulled back to prevent gassing out and found it difficult to pick up where he left off.
?Kudos to Canelo for the victory and for having to wade through some really sludgy waters to get from the failed drug tests in February to the biggest win of his career in September. But, in terms of skill and overall ability, I still don?t view the Mexican star as an elite-level middleweight.
?The HBO contracts of both Alvarez and Golovkin ended with this PPV bout. If HBO wants to stay in the boxing business, they will use a lucrative third bout as leverage in attempts to re-sign both fighters. If HBO Boxing is done, we may see Canelo-GGG 3 on Showtime PPV in May of 2019.
?Personally, I hope these two take a break from one another and fight someone else next. I?d love to see Canelo against the winner of Saunders-Andrade and Golovkin against Jermall Charlo.
?All in all, while the main event turned out to be entertaining, the promotion was absolutely awful. It was way too bogged down in negativity?over clenbuterol, judging, hand wraps, gloves, favoritism, etc.? instead of maintaining focus on the actual fight. When you essentially have one side of a contest making the case AGAINST the main event?s legitimacy over and over again in the press, that?s not exactly going to be helpful in driving sales.
GBP/HBO/K2 was also pretty bad at what should?ve been the easiest aspect of the promotion?having fans know just when the damn show started. The PPV card started an hour earlier than usual and TONS of fans ended up tuning in late, missing two of the undercard fights, because the promotion failed to get the word out on the early start. Yeah, maybe fans should?ve checked out the start time on their own, but you would think that a change from the normal scheduling would prod organizers into actually working overtime to get this crucial bit of info to the buying public. As it turned out, many fans, for their 85 bucks, only got a three-round Jaime Munguia blowout of Brandon Cook and an hour of downtime before the main event.
?But, having said all of the above, at the end of the day, the fight was a good, competitive scrap with everything boxing fans claim to want from a main stage prizefight and both fighters performed to the best of their abilities.
As expected, however, the glow and appreciation of an entertaining affair was drowned out by post-fight griping, gloating, and vows to quit watching boxing for good ?this time.?
The problem may be that so many people these days aren?t really fans of boxing as much as they are fans of ?their? guys. People get so caught up in ?winning? that they lose sight on how, when both sides do well, we all win. There?s a lot of that going around these days, especially in politics. Don?t get me started on politics?
