Saul Alvarez vs Gennadiy Golovkin 3

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez brought his long rivalry with Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin to a conclusive end by retaining the undisputed super-middleweight championship on a unanimous decision at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Alvarez controlled the first eight rounds, withstood a late improvement from the 40-year-old Golovkin and received scores of 116–112 and 115–113 twice. The margins were closer than the general course of the contest suggested.

The third meeting came almost exactly five years after their first, when Golovkin retained his middleweight titles through a disputed draw. Their return in 2018 had been closer, with Alvarez advancing more boldly and taking a majority decision. Golovkin had always disputed those verdicts, but the delay before the third fight worked against him. He had remained a middleweight champion, defeating Ryota Murata in Japan five months earlier, but was moving up to 168 pounds for the first time. Alvarez, eight years younger, held the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO super-middleweight titles, although he entered after losing a light-heavyweight challenge to Dmitry Bivol.

An announced crowd of 19,519 attended on Mexican Independence weekend. Alvarez weighed 167½ pounds and Golovkin 167¾. Russell Mora was the referee. Alvarez began with a professional record of 57 wins, two defeats and two draws, while Golovkin stood at 42–1–1. The champion’s four belts and his standing as undisputed ruler of the division were at stake.

The opening round was cautious. Both men understood the other’s strength after 24 previous rounds together, and neither offered an early opening. Golovkin worked almost exclusively behind his left jab and showed little of the firm pressure which had defined the first fight. Alvarez moved forward, feinting and looking for the left hook to the body. The second followed a similar course, with Golovkin jabbing from a high guard but seldom bringing the right hand behind it. Alvarez’s punches carried greater weight, particularly when he struck beneath the elbows.

Alvarez began to establish clear control in the third. He varied the jab, attacked Golovkin’s body and brought the left hook around the Kazakh’s guard. Golovkin remained defensively sound but gave ground too readily and let the champion dictate when the exchanges occurred. His jab continued to land, but it was used more to maintain distance than to start sustained attacks.

The middle rounds belonged plainly to Alvarez. He moved Golovkin backwards, worked to the ribs and occasionally switched his attack upstairs with hooks and right hands. Golovkin’s output remained strangely restrained. He followed the champion but rarely cut off the ring with conviction, and his right hand was almost absent. Alvarez did not reproduce the constant forward drive of their second contest, but he did not need to. He initiated the meaningful exchanges and landed the harder punches.

By the end of the eighth, Alvarez had built what appeared to be an unassailable lead. Through those rounds he held a 31–6 advantage in body punches landed. Golovkin had shown durability and had not been seriously hurt, but he had surrendered too much ground while waiting for opportunities that never developed. The champion’s left hook repeatedly marked the right side of his face, and Alvarez was able to step away before Golovkin could answer with more than the jab.

Golovkin finally increased his work in the ninth. He began releasing the right hand behind his jab and forced Alvarez backwards during the closing portion of the round. It was his best passage of the contest to that point and brought a response from a crowd which had waited for the rivalry to resemble its earlier instalments. Alvarez remained composed, but his pace had slowed, and Golovkin was at last prepared to put combinations together.

The improvement continued in the tenth. Golovkin’s jab became more purposeful, snapping Alvarez’s head backwards, and he followed it with straight rights and short uppercuts when the champion remained within range. The action briefly assumed the pattern of their first meeting, with Golovkin pressing and Alvarez countering from near the ropes. Golovkin was now landing with greater frequency, although the rounds already lost meant that a late rally alone was unlikely to alter the verdict.

A clash of heads near the end of the tenth opened a cut above Alvarez’s right eye. Mora correctly ruled the damage accidental. Golovkin continued to work behind the jab in the eleventh, while Alvarez countered to the body and looked for the uppercut as the challenger came forward. Blood showed around the champion’s eye, but the cut did not materially impair him. The round was more evenly fought than those in the middle of the contest, with Golovkin busier but Alvarez still landing the more forceful individual blows.

Golovkin pressed again in the final round, knowing that he required a decisive finish. He sent the jab forward and landed the right hand through the centre, while Alvarez answered with left hooks and an uppercut. There were willing exchanges before the bell, but neither man was badly shaken. Golovkin had finished with greater purpose than he had begun, although his recovery came too late to overturn Alvarez’s long-established advantage.

The official scores were unexpectedly narrow. Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld each returned 115–113, while David Sutherland scored 116–112. The wider card was closer to the apparent balance of the fight, and numerous ringside observers gave Golovkin no more than two or three rounds. The challenger himself accepted that Alvarez had been the better man.

The recorded punch totals also reflected the champion’s superior authority. Alvarez landed 130 of 487 punches, compared with Golovkin’s 120 from 521. Golovkin held an advantage in jabs, landing 74 to Alvarez’s 45, but Alvarez led 85–46 in power punches. The figures illustrated the essential difference: Golovkin touched the champion regularly with his lead hand, while Alvarez did considerably more damage whenever the exchanges went beyond the jab.

Alvarez improved his record to 58–2–2 and retained all four super-middleweight championships. Golovkin suffered only his second professional defeat. The third fight did not approach the intensity or uncertainty of the first two, chiefly because Golovkin allowed the opening two-thirds to pass without applying his former pressure. His late effort confirmed that he remained durable and technically capable at 40, but Alvarez had already secured the decision through harder body punching, firmer control of the ring and a willingness to lead the contest.

This third fight came four years too late. The first belonged to Golovkin in my eyes, whatever the judges said, and the rematch was close enough to argue either way, although I thought Canelo edged it. By the time they met again, Golovkin was 40, moving up to super-middleweight for the first time and no longer capable of applying that suffocating pressure for 12 rounds.

For eight rounds he was far too passive. He jabbed, followed Alvarez around and waited for openings instead of creating them. Against a younger man who counters as well as Canelo, that is giving the fight away. Alvarez controlled the distance, feinted Golovkin backwards and kept digging the left hook into the body. Those body shots mattered because they discouraged the older man from planting his feet and letting combinations go.

Golovkin finally woke up in the ninth. His jab became authoritative, the right hand followed, and for a few rounds we saw glimpses of the fighter who had pushed Canelo so hard previously. But he’d left himself far too much to recover.

Alvarez won clearly. The two 115–113 cards were ridiculous and made the contest look far closer than it was; 116–112 was generous enough to Golovkin. I had no problem with the winner, only the margins. Golovkin remained tough and proud, but toughness isn’t enough when you surrender two-thirds of a championship fight. This settled the official trilogy, though it didn’t alter my view that Golovkin deserved the first one.