GOLOVKIN IS THE POPULAR CHOICE BUT FIGHT WITH CANELO IS AN UNPOPULAR DRAW
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 19 Sep 2017
Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) retains his WBC, WBA, IBF and IBO world middleweight titles thanks as fight with Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) ended a draw. ?I want to thank my fans and of course I want the rematch,? Golovkin said. ?This was a real fight. I still have the belts and I?m still champion.?
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The judges? scorecards created a big controversy as Adelaide Byrd scored the fight 118-100 for Alvarez. Dave Moretti recorded it 115-113 for Golovkin, while Don Trella had it a 114-114 draw. Even Alvarez?s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, criticized Byrd?s 118-110 scorecard. ?What was that?? he asked. De la Hoya said that this is the most exciting fight that fans have seen in years and it resulted in a draw which "begs for a rematch.?
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Alvarez declared he thought he won the fight because he was superior inside the ring. He thinks he won at least seven or eight of the rounds. ?I was able to counterpunch and even make Gennady Golovkin wobble a couple of times. It?s up to the people if we fight again. I feel frustrated over this draw.?
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Alvarez remained as The Ring?s middleweight champion and likewise the lineal champion because of his victory over Miguel Cotto in 2015. Bernard Hopkins is the last undisputed middleweight champion of the world and is now the business partner of Oscar de la Hoya who promotes Alvarez. Hopkins won over de la Hoya by 9th round KO in September 2004.
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Golovkin?s record in world title fights is 18-0-1 (17 KOs) and 5-0-1 against current or former world champions. Alvarez has eight successive unbeaten fights since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013 and that includes six current or former world champions.
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This is Golovkin?s second consecutive fight that lasted the full 12 rounds. And these are the only 12-round fights he ever experienced in his career. Since 2008, before his fight against Daniel Jacobs in March that went the distance, Golovkin stopped by KO or TKO 21 of his 23 opponents before the 10th round.
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Per CompuBox statistics, Golovkin landed more punches than Alvarez in 10 of the 12 rounds fought. Alvarez outlanded Golovkin 14-12 in the second round, and they each connected 23 punches in the 12th round. Alvarez had a record of landing 46% of his power punches prior to the fight, and he had it at 42% last Saturday. Golovkin has more superior jabs as he landed 108 of 361 thrown (30 %) compared to 55 of 233 (24 %) by Alvarez.
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But Golovkin did not fight in his usual punching figures. He landed 31% of all of his punches, compared to 40% before the fight. Golovkin targetted Alvarez?s head. Of his 218 punches landed, 210 (96%) were to Alvarez?s head. Alvarez hit 74% of his connected punches on Golovkin?s head (127 of 171).
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It was Golovkin?s 19th consecutive middleweight title defense, starting when he won the WBA world middleweight title in 2010. Only Bernard Hopkins has more consecutive title defenses, with 20 from 1995 to 2005.
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For the fight with Golovkin, Alvarez was the underdog (plus-150) for the second time in his past 20 fights. The other time he was the darkhorse was in 2013, when he was a plus-235 underdog against Mayweather. Golovkin was a minus-180 favorite Saturday.
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Alvarez said he was able to counterpunch and even make Gennady Golovkin wobble a couple of times. He added it?s up to the people if they fight again. He feels frustrated over the draw. Even if Golovkin still owned the belts, Alvarez held the advantage as to the guaranteed purse $5M for him and $3M for GGG. De La Hoya saw to it that his fighter got the upperhand. The promoter insisted earlier that this encounter was ?not about the money?, but ?a history fight?.
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De La Hoya also predicted ?eight or nine rounds of hell? for both boxers. Though the fight lasted twelve rounds, he was not wrong because the battle was ferociously fought from opening bell up the final bell . Golovkin?s trainer Abel Sanchez said "No surprises. We knew going in it was going to be a war. Canelo was very resilient."
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Bob Bennett, executive director of Nevada athletic commission, said that he has full confidence in Adalaide Byrd talking about her consistently good record in 442 bouts in more than 20 years. ?That?s the life of a judge,? Bennett said. ?She had a bad night in a big fight. She saw the fight in a different way. When you?re a judge and you?re on the money, nobody says anything about it," he added.
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ESPN.com scored the fight 116-112 for Golovkin, as well as HBO's unofficial scorer, Harold Lederman. Manny Pacquiao posted on Twitter: "Did they bring these judges over from Australia?" obviously referring to the same controversial judging in his latest fight with Jeff Horn. Gareth A Davies also posted: "Adelaide Byrd scored just rounds 4 and 7 for GGG. Nevada State Athletic Commission must look at it Byrd gave Golovkin only the fourth and seventh rounds on a scorecard that likely will go down as one of the most shocking in boxing history."
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More tweets from different boxing personalities. Claressa Shields: "Mannn that decision was a terrible decision! GGG won! Canelo held his ground but GGG won more rounds! Seriously!" Shane Mosley: "GGG got 10. They was both throwing blows but GGG doing the damn thang." Antonio Tarver: "Boooooooooooo!!! Horrible decision but sadly I'm not surprised. I just hope GGG just move on to the next HBOboxing."
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Anthony Mundine: "Another robbery in boxing !!! I mean seriously." Leon Mckenzie: "Money money money! Na can't fool me. GGG won fight simple. But hey you have your rematch!" Lennox Lewis: "Both fighters can hold their heads high tonight but this fight wasn't close to a draw!" Enzo Maccarinelli: "I'm a massive fan of both but ggg was robbed."
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Audley Harrison: "Great fight ... excellent action down the stretch, but a draw ... what was that judge watching. no waaaaaay." Luke Campbell: "Wow!! I felt Canelo was in survival mode from round 4 and GGG bossed the fight a draw is bad the 118-110 Canelo is crazy!!"
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Thomas Williams Jr: "All in All boxing fans saw a great fight between two great fighters tonight." Peter Quillin: "They need that rematch asap!!! Just like Ward vs Kovalev rematch was booked asap."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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