Saul “Canelo” Alvarez scored his 50th professional victory with a majority decision over Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vis scores 115-113, 115-113, and 114-114 to become the World Boxing Association (WBA) Super World Middleweight Champion. With the victory, Canelo ended the championship streak of Golovkin who was trying for a historic 21st title defense.
The fight was another very good one – perhaps a classic – as Canelo came out more aggressive than usual and showed early on that he wanted to take the fight to GGG. GGG did a great job in the early rounds of pumping his jab, but he was not throwing many power shots overall.
Both fighters started to open up more in the third round, throwing more power shots and really looking to hurt each other. It was still Canelo coming forward in the coming rounds, pushing GGG backwards at times. GGG, for his part, was landing some good punches but you could feel that it was Canelo imposing his will more on the fight.
Canelo was looking very sharp while GGG was gulping for air at times, perhaps not used to fighting off of his back foot for such a long period of time. Canelo was also blasting the body of GGG and you could see that it was starting to slightly take its toll.
As the second half of the fight turned over Canelo was still pressing forward, looking like he was going for the knockout as he continued aggressively coming forward and throwing power shots to both the head and the body.
In the eighth and ninth rounds GGG was digging deep and trying to turn the tide of the fight – drawing blood from Canelo, who looked like he was getting slightly tired. In the tenth round GGG landed a right hand that nearly changed the fight as it obviously hurt Canelo, but he composed himself and shook it off to continue coming forward.
Going down the stretch it was GGG that seemed to catch a second wind and was landing hard blows while also having his highest output of the fight, although Canelo would also finish strong in the twelfth and final round.
Overall it was a great fight for boxing and a historic one, with GGG’s record 20 title defense steak coming to an end and Canelo scoring arguably the best win of his career to date.
In the post fight interview, when Canelo was asked about a rematch, he said “That was a great fight, but in the end, it was a victory for Mexico. And again, it was an opportunity, and I want to shout out to my opponent, the best in the sport of boxing. I am a great fighter, and I showed it tonight. If the people want another round, I’ll do it again. But for right now, I will enjoy time with my family.”
