Golovkin and Alvarez fight to a brutal draw; rematch to come
Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin argued afterward about who won their middleweight showdown.
No one could argue it wasn’t a great fight.
Golovkin retained his middleweight titles Saturday night, fighting to a 12-round 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 in excitement.
Alvarez rallied late to win the last three rounds on each scorecard and pull out the draw, though both fighters claimed victory.
“I won seven, 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.”
Golovkin was the aggressor throughout and landed punches that had put other fighters to 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.
Golovkin, who has never lost in 38 fights, retained his middleweight titles. But Alvarez showed that he could not only take the
punches of the fighter from Kazakhstan but land telling punches of his own.
A frenzied crowd of 22,358 at the T-Mobile Arena roared throughout the fight as the two middleweights put on the kind of show that boxing purists had anticipated. They brawled, used sharp jabs and counter punched at times, with neither one willing to give the other much ground.
“Congratulations all my friends from Mexico,” Golovkin said. “I want a true fight. I want a big drama show.”
There was plenty of drama toward the end of the fight as Alvarez rallied in the late rounds and rocked Golovkin with uppercuts and big right hands. But just as soon as he landed, he often took one back from the slugger so feared that most other fighters avoided him. There was even more drama on the scorecards, as Byrd’s score was off the other two by a wide margin.
“That’s the life of a judge,” said Bob Bennett, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. “She had a bad night in a big fight.”
It was a battle from the opening bell, as Golovkin tried to walk Alvarez down only to get hit by sharp counter punches.
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.
“It’s not my fault,” Golovkin said. “I put pressure on every round.”
Golovkin predicted before the fight that the late rounds would resemble a street fight, and in a way they did. Both fighters were willing to trade, and both had no problems landing hard shots to the head. Ringside punching stats credited Golovkin landing 217 of 703 punches while Alvarez landed 169 of 505.
Golovkin, who moved to Los Angeles from Kazakhstan to pursue stardom in the ring, said he would welcome a second fight
“Of course I want a rematch,” he said.
Alvarez said he was more than willing to do it again.
“Obviously yes, if the people want it,” Alvarez said. “He didn’t win, it was a draw.”