Canelo Decision Was Subjective

By Rich Mancuso/ Sports Editor

Las Vegas:  Just like their first fight last year that ended in a controversial draw it was Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin Saturday night going to the judges scorecards. Except this time the majority decision went to Alvarez and as a result the Mexican is the new Middleweight champion.

The decision, 114-114, 115-113-115-113, of course was greeted with mix reaction on Mexican Independence Day weekend at the T-Mobile Arena, also the site of their first fight that saw Alvarez get a controversial draw as one judge then scored the last five rounds for Alvarez..

And this latest fight, which could lead to a trilogy, went to Alvarez as  that 115-113 score was a  last round that went to the new champion and gave him the unified championships. This writer had it 7-5 in rounds for Golovkin, and again it is all about boxing the subjective sport.

But not like the first fight, Canelo Alvarez took this one on points because he threw more punches to the body. It is obvious the judges saw that “GGG” threw only six and Canelo landed 46. And according to CompuBox, Canelo had a 143-116 edge in power connects and landed 39% to 35% for GGG who landed 70 power shots over the last six rounds.

Golovkin also outlanded in eight of the 12 rounds when it came to punches, so decide for yourself what the judges saw or bypssed.  Again, this is why boxing is a subjective sport if the stoppage does not occur.

The judges may have got this right from those final fight stats, and there is minimal debate from those who scored this a draw. It was that close and two fighters evenly matched after two fights and 24 rounds of boxing.

Two fighters that showed again why boxing, a brutal sport, can also bring out the best. There was bitter animosity with both fighters and their camps and it revolved around Canelo Alvarez and his suspension to using PED,s  of which he said was attributed to contaminated meat in Mexico.

At the end, and in the ring, the fighters embraced. The fight camps of trainers and personnel stayed in the background as the respect was granted to the new champion, Canelo Alvarez who is now considered one of the all-time great fighters from Mexico.

But those middle rounds could have impressed the judges. Golovkin failed to go to the body and his usual ability to counter punch was not there as it was in the first fight.  Again, three perspectives from different angles of the ring.

Different opinions from many more in the arena and those viewing the HBO pay-per-view telecast. Boxing is subjective, and similar to their first fight, and the Danny Garcia loss to Shawn Porter last week in Brooklyn for the welterweight title, different scorecards and also many thought that Garcia should have retained the titles with a draw.

There is reason here to stage a third fight, but that is up to the promoters and fighters to decide. Canelo Alvarez is in position now as the new middeweight champion and you can’t take that away from him.

Gennady Golovkin is 36-years old, and for now is title reign is over. He did seem slower and not going to the body often may have did him in, so does he want to go another 12-rounds with Alvarez or wait his turn to regain the titles?

The boxing fan would love to see a third fight. So many rivalries in the history of this sport have come to a conclusion with a third and decisive one.

And they want to see a knockout to make it decisive because the sport is subjective all the time when two evenly matched fighters go 12-rounds.

Comment: Ring786@aol.com Twitter@Ring786  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

 

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