Middleweights argue over who won drawn slugfest
CANELO Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin argued afterwards about who won their middleweight showdown.
No one could argue it wasn’t a great fight.
Golovkin retained his middleweight titles on Saturday night, fighting to a 12round draw with Alvarez in a brutal battle that ended with both fighters holding their hands aloft in victory.
It was a fight neither deserved to lose and, when the scores were tallied, neither did. The middleweight bout years in the making lived up to its hype as the two fighters traded huge punches and went after each other for 12 rounds.
Neither was down or seriously hurt, but both landed big punches to the head that had the crowd screaming.
Alvarez rallied late to win the last three rounds on each scorecard and pull out the draw, although both fighters claimed victory.
“I won seven to eight rounds easily,” Alvarez said.
“I was superior inside the ring. Today people give me draw. I focus on boxing,” Golovkin said.
“Look my belts, I’m still champion. I’ve not lost.”
Kazakhstani Golovkin was the aggressor throughout and landed punches that had put other fighters on the canvas.
But he couldn’t knock Alvarez down and the Mexican boxer more than stood his own in exchanges with Triple G. The two were still brawling as the final seconds ticked down.
Alvarez was leading after the first three rounds, then Golovkin dominated the middle rounds. After a pep talk from his corner, Alvarez came out more aggressive in the 10th round to pull out the draw.
Two scorecards were close, with Golovkin ahead 115- 113 on one and a 114- 114 draw on the other. But veteran judge Adalaide Byrd inexplicably had Alvarez winning 118- 110, giving him all but two rounds.
The Associated Press scored it 114- 114.
Both fighters raised their hands in triumph at the final bell and jumped into the arms of corner men. Then they waited as the scorecards were added up to see who would leave the ring with the belts.
Ringside punching stats credited Golovkin landing 217 of 703 punches while Alvarez landed 169 of 505.