The organizer of the trilogy fight between the absolute champion of the second middleweight (up to 76.2 kg) Mexican Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) and the unified middleweight champion (up to 72.6 kg) Kazakhstani Gennady Golovkin (42-2- 1, 37 KOs) British promoter Eddie Hearn
commented last fight for his promotional company Matchroom.
Hearn also offered his thoughts on the Kazakhstan boxing legend’s age, performance and possible future.
Report from vRINGe: Alvarez vs. Golovkin: The red-haired superhero Jagganath
“Eddie, what’s your immediate reaction to what we just saw?”
— Yes, a close fight on the notes. I didn’t see this fight that way. One round difference and it would have been a draw. Gennady will reproach himself for the slow start. Canelo was great in the first half of the fight. People talk about Gennady’s slow start, but Canelo’s movement was incredible and derailed Gennady Golovkin’s plans, who joined the fight in the end. Canelo Alvarez appeared to have injured his left hand, but I think it was a well-deserved winner. My score was 9-3, something like that. And Gennady finished the fight strong, but he took too much damage in the first half of the fight.
– A lot of talk about the age of Gennady Golovkin, about a four-year gap between the second and third fights. Did you see that he is older in the ring now?
“He’s probably not the same fighter now that he was 4-5-6 years ago, but only a few look good when they reach this stage of their career. But he boxed extremely well towards the end of the fight. It’s just that in the first half of the fight, Canelo’s movement was too good. I barely give Gennady Golovkin a round in the first six. And when he entered the fight, he looked dangerous, he forced the pace, but then too many rounds were lost. Yes, of course, Gennady Golovkin is no longer at his peak, but the qualities of Canelo Alvarez cannot be taken away. His movement was fantastic and he was a well-deserved winner.
Gennady Golovkin is still the middleweight champion of the world.
– Undoubtedly.
What do you expect from him next?
– I dont know. As you say, a lot of people are commenting that Gennady Golovkin is coming to the end of his career, but he recently stopped Murata in Japan and unified the titles. Can he come back and unify the division or become the undisputed middleweight champion, or will this be the end of the road for Gennady Golovkin? This is obviously a question for him. His family, I believe, will decide what will happen next.
- “Lazy and weak.” Legend says it’s time for Golovkin to quit boxing