First for the things that didn't surprise me, Alvarez won the fight and Golovkin looked old. There were a lot of surprises. 1. Golovkin went the distance. I know it didn't surprise most of you but that surprised me. I thought the fight would be stopped in the first half of the fight. It's not that I thought the iron-chinned Triple G would get knocked out. I thought that, after seeing the Golovkin-Murata fight and the effect Murata's body punches had, Canelo would make a concerted effort to go to the body and eventually GGG's corner would throw in the towel. 2. Canelo didn't go to the body very often. Throughout his career Alvarez has thrown vicious body shots and great head/body combinations. He did almost none of that in this fight. 3. The last five rounds featured a gassed, tired Canelo. Golovkin didn't all of a sudden decide to start fighting in round 8. The fact is that he no longer had quality opposition. Alvarez offered less and less resistance as time went on and Golovkin, showing the heart and fight of a champion, did everything his 40 year old body could muster to try and win the fight. I know that Canelo had been tiring toward the end of his recent fights but Triple G did nothing to tire him out. This was all Canelo running out of energy. 4. Canelo looked old. I don't mean that he looked older and slower than he did in previous fights. I mean he looked old. He has become more one-dimensional over the last few years, walking opponents down and getting to them with his power. In this bout he had no speed, threw very few combinations and tired like a fat man running a quarter mile. 5. Golovkin had no power. I don't think he hit Alvarez with more than a punch or two that had any effect. They say power is the last thing to go so I expected him to show some power for as long as the fight lasted.
Golovkin looked ill to me. His face looked gaunt and he looked like he was protecting his ribs all night. He barely threw the right hand. He looked a hell of a lot better when he saw his bank balance after the fight though
4 months ago, Golovkin was hitting Murata like a mule and viciously knocked him out. However, last night Golovkin had no intention to hurt Canelo, and when it was announced that he lost the fight, he was like the happiest person in the world. Guess why?
I agree with everything you wrote. Full disclosure: I had it for Canelo 115-113. First round I gave to GGG although that's debatable. 2-8 obviously Canelo. Then 9-12 GGG. This fight told us more about Canelo than GGG. Canelo had an old, slow, tentative, easy to hit guy in front of him. Same as Louis in front of Marciano. Differance is Marciano brutally KO'd Louis, and Canelo couldn't do the same. I believe this fight told us more about Canelo than it did about GGG. in rounds 9-12 he looked as old and as slow as GGG who is 8 years or so older.
Good post @Fogger . I had Canelo winning 11-1 but also thought he looked poor overall. The reason my card was so wide is because, like you, I thought GGG did not throw with any power. It was all jabs and arm punches, and not even sharp jabs. He was wary of getting countered and continued to do so even late in the fight (thought round 12 was clearly Canelo). His power always was best in those right angle hooks he would throw around the opponent's guard. But there was none of that last night; his right hand was useless. Canelo appears to be in physical decline. His skills are degrading but so is his conditioning. I also think his reflexes are slightly off. He's still an elite fighter but he's going to be more vulnerable on a variety of fronts going forward. Personally I don't enjoy his new style of trundling forward throwing one hard shot at a time. He was a lot of fun to watch in his run at 160.
What surprised me is the score cards. 115-113? These cards were already decided before the fight. GGG won 2 rounds max. In my mind though it's still 2-1 GGG, and this latest fight is meaningless.
Canelo may only be 32 but the man has had 62 fights and fought more than 450 rounds. Just for comparison's sake, Golovkin may be eight years older but he's fought 200 less professional rounds than Canelo. You are right, the Canelo of 2014 to 2019 was a lot of fun to watch.
I had it 116-112 nut I can see 117-111 or 115 113. You're right, it did tell us more about Canelo. We already knew Golovkin was old. He's 40, he's supposed to be old. Alvarez looked bad. The Canelo of 2019 would have destroyed the 2022 Canelo.
Canelo not going for the body was the weird one GGG had old man syndrome & Canelo lacked confidence Both realized one another's position and basically turned it into a sparring match. Could see it going in anyway. All the dumb normie casuals and even many boxing fans expecting a war are dum dums. I laughed when it turned to Joe Rogan and Chappelle, all the celebs come for the hyped crap fights. DAZN sucking Canelo's knob throughout Jesus.
It was the same thing in the Bivol fight. I am wondering if this hand thing affected his ability (or willingness) to train. As I was saying before the fight, he's had a lot of camps in not a lot of time. The little injuries can add up.
I’m a GGG fan but even I could see he did win more than 2-3 rounds, he looked old and if this was the first fight I saw of him I would never believe he ever had massive power. Canelo didn’t look very good either, was hoping for a lot more.