American martial arts columnist, boxing coach, former television commentator Teddy Atlas in the latest podcast
The Fight with Teddy Atlas commented on the defeat of the unified middleweight champion (up to 72.6 kg) from Kazakhstan Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) to the absolute second middleweight champion (up to 76.2 kg) from Mexico Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO).
Atlas, in his usual manner, described the performance of the legend from Kazakhstan, criticized the performance of the star Mexican and spoke about the judging of the trilogy fight.
“I have the right to tell the truth. Got an old car, okay? Who no longer travels on highways at a speed of 70 miles per hour, as he used to. The only way he’ll stay in the fight, in the race, is to keep the pace slow. And you know what? Canelo let him keep the pace slow. He let him go at 45 miles an hour, he let him end up pulling off the highway and taking back roads. That’s what happened. If this car had been driving along the highway as it should be, it would not have arrived, it would have broken down, it would have been towed off the road. Once again, the truth hurts, but the truth will set you free if you let it. That’s what this fight was like. Do I give Golovkin credit for using his vast experience when he had to? Yes, I give for what he is. He is a lion, even if he is old. Do I give him credit for stepping back from a distance? He didn’t move his head as much as he wanted to, but he stepped back a little, and was able to survive those strong blows at the beginning. Basically, it was his defense and he used his jab. Yes, I give him credit for all of this.
- Named the number of sold paid broadcasts of the fight Alvarez – Golovkin 3
I will touch on refereeing a little. A lot of people complain about refereeing, how close it was. But I’m not one of them. First of all, Canelo gave up a lot of rounds. There were 3-4-5 rounds at the end of the fight, and there was also at least one close round at the beginning. What the judges have done needs to be properly assessed. I’ll say it again – there had to be only one winner. There was no way these judges would ever or in any way let Golovkin win. Because it was the job of the promoters, the powerful people who needed Canelo to win, because he’s the guy who generates the money, he’s the golden goose.
You can see it in the fees. I think it was guaranteed 45 million for Canelo and 20 million for Golovkin.
– Exactly. So Canelo had to win the fight. Judges are people too. Even if they are corrupt, they are still people, and they felt pressure for this fight. Golovkin was robbed twice in his first two fights. And I don’t care what you object to. The second fight was closer, but he was robbed in two fights. Therefore, the judges were under close scrutiny. They knew people would be watching closely to see if they would rob him again if they had the chance. So they were aware of it and were sensitive to it. So what did they do? They made sure their guy, the promoter guy who was supposed to win, came forward. And look, Canelo is ahead, I don’t argue with that… And now that Canelo is way ahead, they start playing games. Drawing here and there to make it look like they’re honest. Some of those rounds Golovkin did get, he deserved them, but they could have been icing on the cake. After all, they wanted it to look like they were fair. But you have to get one thing right – no matter what, there was no way they would have given the fight to Golovkin! They always had enough space to prevent this.
- Canelo didn’t improve, GGG from the first fight would have destroyed him – Sanchez
I know a lot of people don’t understand how Canelo did this. But I will give you some excuses. The first is that he is not a great fighter. But here’s another one – lifting in weight and returning back could affect him physically. This once influenced the great fighter Roy Jones when he rose to heavyweight and returned back. Also, Canelo looked like he was exhausted after the eighth round, which is unbelievable for Canelo. Maybe it’s because he really wanted to get rid of Golovkin in the beginning, he didn’t succeed, and he started to run out of steam mentally and physically a little. He began to agree to clinches, even initiated them. You won’t do this if you want to knock out a fighter. Listen, when you have an advantage in infighting, as a younger, stronger, especially at this time with 40-year-old Golovkin, you should not clinch, you should fight, you should throw punches, you should press like a younger one. Even his corner talked about it, but he didn’t. He also said that he wants to knock out Golovkin. You should fight on the inside and shouldn’t initiate clinches, but he did. There was a small crack, a small physical and mental vulnerability on his part. Great fighters don’t do that. Good tough fighters do that sometimes, and he’s a good tough fighter, but not a great one. He did so, and he allowed Golovkin, as I said earlier, to keep the pace slow.