USA TODAY International Edition
Sport needed Alvarez’s non-controversial win
LAS VEGAS – Boxing doesn’t just thrive on controversy, it literally breathes through it and sometimes relies on argument and conjecture to keep itself relevant.
On Saturday, though, at the end of a tumultuous year in the rivalry between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, the sport could be grateful there was nothing that smelled fishy seeping out of T-Mobile Arena.
There will be dispute, sure, with some believing Golovkin was the man who deserved the judging decision at the end of a rematch that produced 12 rounds of intensity and raw effort, and not his Mexican foe.
Even more thought a draw, the same outcome as the initial bout between the pair a year earlier, was how it should have been scored. Yet there was no travesty here, no cries of “fix” and no cause for an inquisition. Alvarez won by the narrowest of margins, so slim that if just one judge has scored just one round differently, the outcome would have been all-square once more.
That’s how it goes sometimes. It does not feel fair for Golovkin, one of the alltime greatest middleweights. He got the short end of the decision last September after a fight most thought he won, then was forced to wait and stew after Alvarez got popped for a banned substance while saying it resulted from eating tainted meat. But boxing isn’t fair. The decision won’t be universally popular, but it was arrived at fairly. At least there is nothing to suggest otherwise.
Boxing didn’t need another scandal. Not here, not in a showdown between the two biggest active names in the business. It didn’t need another joke of a scorecard like the 118-110 farce Adalaide Byrd awarded to Alvarez last time. It needed a fight that made the fans feel like their money had been well spent, especially if, as hinted, Floyd Mayweather Jr. — the master of overpromising and underdelivering entertainment — does indeed return to the ring.
This was worth the price. It might not have been an all-time classic but it was rugged and fierce and left no doubt that each fighter had given everything he had. Alvarez, defensive-minded and always ready to retreat a year ago, turned things on its head by becoming the persistent aggressor, stalking forward and forcing the action. Golovkin responded with heart and energy late, coming within a whisker of turning it around with a final surge when all looked lost.
For the nuanced and experienced boxing supporter, it had the intrigue of seeing a complete shift in mind-set and tactical approach from Alvarez, a factor that likely made the ultimate difference. For the casual fans who likes their entertainment to be of the rock ’em, sock ’em robots variety, there were enough rounds where flurried blows rained down.
And for those who like their fight sports sprinkled with a liberal dose of reality-TV style drama, the buildup offered every narrative a script writer could have dreamed up.
“These guys were separated by one round over two fights,” said Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez. “So hopefully we can do it again.”
A third fight does have some appeal, but for it to hold interest it likely needs to happen quickly.
Already, there a some signs of Golovkin, 36, beginning to slow, especially when Alvarez pushed the pace during the middle rounds. The man from Kazakhstan can probably extend his physical peak for another 12 months or so. Any more than that, and the forces of Father Time would make this rivalry too imbalanced, with Alvarez at 28 and appearing to get stronger.
If a trilogy bout takes place, the narrative has already been set. Next time there would surely be less trash talking, less surrounding plotlines, less distraction. It doesn’t need it. All that jazz never really sat naturally with these two anyways, and they’re at their most compelling when they’re doing what they do best: fighting.