Honestly it's a repeat thread, idc, I don't post much anymore so I'm allowed my one. Seldom you watch a fight where both fighters struggled so hard to land anything tangible on each other. The first six rounds especially. I've been re-watching fights from years ago lately to reignite my passion with the sport, and in my memory this fight was a great chess match between two fighters, but I never realised until re-watching it, how well both of them played into each other. They completely nullified each other's offense. These guys were throwing shots all fight, but so seldom did any of them connect with anything meaningful. Golovkin's defence was superb, I truly never appreciated it until re-watching it. I always thought he had an amazing chin, but it's the way he rolled with every shot, shots I thought landed back in the day glanced off him, or missed by millimeters, and while he has an outstanding chin, he was so subtlety slippery that it never really needed to be tested, and through this plus obviously his power and threat of return punches, he completely nullified Alvarez's biggest skillsets at the time, his combinations and his counters. Alvarez struggled so hard to ever put Golovkin in a position where he felt threatened. As far as Alvarez, he managed to fight a fight that completely took away Golovkin's biggest strength, his power and accuracy. His slipperiness, in turn with his unreal ability to counter on the fly, left Golovkin perhaps gun shy for the first time in his big-league career. He forced Golovkin to fight a technical fight, to disregard his very heavy handed power, and go for shots he knew he could land, rather than big ones that were a gamble, because it's so hard to truly land a power punch on Alvarez, the milliseconds of posturing give him more than enough time to react. Golovkin truly struggled to ever touch on his power vs Alvarez, and the moments that he did, Alvarez remained so composed that he could never capitalize on it. Truly an ATG fight in terms of raw technical ability, while I had Golovkin comfortably winning re-scoring it these years later, I've never seen two fighters so equally neutralize each others strengths so well and I truly feel like no one REALLLLYY lost the fight. 10/10 fight, loved it so much more on the re-watch. Also do believe it set the blue print for Bivol down the line. Don't load up, fight with quick combinations, don't bother with trying to ever land a big shot, and defensively focus on a tight but slippery defense that never puts you out of position to return fire.
I definitely agree, especially rounds 6-9 were a hard clean sweep and Golovkin definitely held a strong advantage over Canelo. The first 5 were a big chess match, but Canelo gassed, he was on the back foot and was losing the fight pretty handily, but he composed and came back well in rounds 10 and 12. The fight post round 6 I think was a story of Canelo winning the first minute then tiring out for the remainder of the round. Still an absolute 10/10 fight, regardless of the 10-2 scorecard incident.
Great post, Some posters along with myself have bought up similar points that you have highlighted here & then shortly after you get the angry fans coming down at them, You can even find causal viewers of boxing who ended up understanding & respecting both fighters after their fight & the sport in the high level they both performed, It's also why since that first fight GGG never felt comfortable throwing his power shots all the way up until their last & final encounter along with Canelo settling for fast counters & punching first.
I've always said Golovkin has a top shelf defence and first truly appreciated how good it was when watching him in slow motion. He makes guys miss by fractions and parries / blocks shots that seem like they landed in normal speed. His technical abilities are superb. Canelo of course is flashier and faster, which makes him seem more impressive at first blush. I thoguht the second fight was even better than #1 btw. I'd agree with that if it wasn't for the fact that Bivol always fights like that. It's why I knew he was going to be poison for Canelo.
Agreed completely. GGG won the event far and away but Canelo really defended well but was just so outworked. The rounds Canelo won were narrow while GGG dominated his rounds. Nonetheless a draw wasnt crazy although GGG prolly shouldve got it 7-5
The problem is this fight wouldve been a classic with NO CONTROVERSY if the fight was scored honestly. If it was a majority draw w 2 draws and 1 GGG decision few people wouldve complained. But that scorecard of 12-0 Canelo was absolutely prefilled and corrupt beyond belief...yet Adelaide Byrd was allowed to officiate again in the future IIRC. I had it something like: Canelo: 2, 3, 4, 6, 10 GGG: 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 One of the rounds 10-12 I thought was a draw so I might have mixed up who won which round, but I had it 6-5-1ish for GGG. I could understand a draw though. Also, the rematch was amazing because it was so different...and yet it was still incredibly hard to score...I think I had that one 5-5-2 but a Canelo decision was fine too.
Yeah i would have to re watch it some day again, depending on what Feed you watch whether it's their first or the rematch you get a completely different camera view point in the exchanges where it can favor or disfavor either or fighter, Like i was watching Cotto/Margarito with an alternative feed which showed punches landing harder & clearer ones i had missed due to the speed & angle of the punches where they were not as clearly visible in the HBO version of the fight, etc.
I like a respect what they both did too. Canelo did much better than i thought he would, but he clearly lost, the result will forever be stain on an otherwise lengendary fight.
After getting the 2nd fight you sometimes forget about this one besides the tarnished score cards like others mentioned. I agree GGG vs Canelo 1 was great chess match. You can tell both guys were in there reflecting on there days of sparring each other. GGG won but not as wide as some like to say. The 3rd fight should have never happened. It was a money grab on both parts. GGG disappointed me with that debacle. Rewatching the 1st fight now, I really liked this version of Canelo. Super quick! Great movement! The 3rd fight would have been much more of a classic if Canelo stayed in middleweight his entire career. He could have dismantled Charlo, Andrade, Jacobs, and then been primed for the 3rd Golovkin fight.
No, Canelo gassed and retreated too much, the rematch was far better plus GGG couldn`t land body shots because Canelo`s trunks were up to his belly button, the fight never reach boiling point, it was slightly tepid.
