Real main event coming up
Alvarez-Golovkin worth waiting for
LAS VEGAS — The fight was not the climax, it was the preliminary bout. Considering how lopsided the former was Saturday night, having another main event in the wings after the one just concluded was a stroke of genius. Those are three words you seldom say about boxing, but Saturday night they, unlike the fight that preceded the need to utter them, seemed warranted.
As was widely anticipated, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez dominated a shadow of his father’s greatness named Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over 12 one-sided rounds at T-Mobile Arena. He did not win every minute of every round, but in the opinion of the judges he won every round, each scoring the bout a 120-108 shutout. Not even Julio Sr. had much incentive to quarrel over that accounting.
By the final two rounds the record-setting crowd of 20,510 was booing Chavez lustily for not gambling his state of consciousness to try and win and booing Alvarez because he couldn’t put him in a state of unconsciousness and didn’t seem inclined to try. Then Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, showed why he’s been the Golden Boy all these long years since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He showed he could not only see the future but knew when to make it.
“Show the video,” De la Hoya said during a postfight press conference and up popped the fighting image of undisputed middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, the man everyone in boxing has been crying out for Alvarez to fight for half a decade now. “So there you go! I’ve always said that fight would happen in September. I always said that. The fight is signed, sealed and delivered.”
Unbeknownst to all but a handful of people in boxing, a showdown long awaited between Golovkin and Alvarez had been agreed to several weeks before the biggest fight among Mexican fight fans was contested.
Alvarez-Chavez was a neighborhood brawl in the oldest of boxing traditions, a fight for king not of the sport or even a particular weight division, but for the beating hearts of boxing’s most fervent fans. They didn’t get much of a fight for their money, but when it was over, De La Hoya wisely had a bonus for them, which is to say the biggest and best matchup in the sport at the moment.
De La Hoya was always brilliant at timing and marketing, understanding instinctively the heartbeat of the average fight fan. Canelo was a heavy favorite over Chavez to everyone who understood what prize fighting is all about and fought like one from opening bell to last. His skills were more defined and honed than the scattershot Chavez, Jr., and his dedication to training and preparation were well in excess of anything the former middleweight champion had shown during his career. De La Hoya understood he needed an antidote to the disappointment likely to follow such a lopsided boxing match and he was ready. Far more ready for that challenge than the one Chavez faced in Alvarez.
Chavez always seemed to be riding on the flowing coat tail of his father, who is nearly universally recognized as Mexico’s greatest boxer. In fairness to the younger Chavez, that is a heavy burden to carry even if it does open doors to the kind of $3 million payday he received on Saturday night. That’s because it also opens you up for the kind of comprehensive beating he took before the true main event — Golovkin vs. Canelo — was announced.
Less than an hour after it was over, Chavez arrived without his father. Some might say it was the first time he’d shown up that night.
Both his eyes were half closed, a dark tint of bruising surrounding each. The right side of Chavez’ face was swollen and there were enough lumps on his forehead to make it resemble a relief map of the mountains above Mexico City. Whatever external pain he was experiencing was nothing compared to the embarrassment he was carrying within. It was the kind of internal injuries his fans had inflicted on him with their catcalls as the fight wore on and Alvarez wore him out.
“We wanted to fight in the middle of the ring,” Chavez said. “When he went to the ropes, I didn’t have the strength to get him. He was very good. He knew what he was doing in there. He didn’t risk too much.”
“One side showed up tonight,” De La Hoya crowed as Alvarez arrived just as Chavez and his reduced posse were leaving the debating hall. “I’ve already had several calls from around the world wanting to stage this fight. I literally had a missed call from Dubai, a missed call from the U.K. There’s interest all over the world. Those negotiations, those talks, will start in the weeks to come.
“This is the most anticipated fight, right next to Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, but the difference is this fight will have a lot of action, non-stop action.”
Golovkin promised the same, acknowledging he has long waited for this moment. So too have boxing fans, who always seem to believe the next fight will be the great fight.
Maybe it will be this time or maybe not but just the announcement of it was like cleansing fluid being thrown over what had just happened.
Golovkin now will have his chance at capturing his dream on Sept. 16, but Saturday night he did something equally as important. He wiped out the memory of Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.’s nightmare performance within seconds of its conclusion. Fortunately for him and Alvarez, boxing fans have a short memory and nobody in the arena understood that better than De La Hoya.
“Everyone understands this is a tough fight for both of us,” said Golovkin, as he sat next to Alvarez fittingly draped in a business suit. “This is an amazing fight for everyone. Everybody wanted this fight.”
As things turned out, it couldn’t have come soon enough. It was a reminder to us all of what is the most essential thing in boxing — perfect timing.