T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, USA. In the main event of the show, antagonists Saul Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) from Mexico and Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) from Kazakhstan closed their legendary rivalry – in the third fight, Canelo beat GGG and defended the title of absolute for the first time. super middleweight champion (up to 76.2 kg).
Recall that in 2017 the first fight between the fighters ended in a drawand exactly 12 months later the mexican was a little better.
The starting round was held in exploration. The fighters probed the distance with jabs. Canelo unsuccessfully tried to land a left hook on the jump. The champion soloed in the 2nd three-minute period, scored a couple of hits. The hull hasn’t bothered me yet. In the 3rd round came the first body punches.
Golovkin has no answers yet. He shoots some jabs. And that’s it. In the 5th round, Canelo went through a hard overhand. Holds GGG is still solid. The fight took place at an unhurried pace with a minimum of aggravations, which the fans did not like much.
Slightly more active Golovkin spent the 8th round. As expected, even more came in response – Canelo has a solid superiority in hand speed and reflexes. GGG was not going to capitulate, without winning a round, so he nevertheless began to take risks and, perhaps, even won the 10th three-minute period and inflicted a cut on the antagonist – they collided heads.
The decisive round was also frankly not a success – clinches, fuss, small fouls. After the final gong, the fighters embraced. It remains only to find out if Golovkin will be given at least one round. Judges score: 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113. Is this some sort of owe?..
Canelo UD 12.
