Rounds 25-36 were nothing like 1-24.
Canelo Alvarez, who took all he could in two previous fights with Gennadiy Golovkin, made Triple-G look 40 years old for most of the fight en route to winning a unanimous decision at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. .
The odd scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113, which did not reflect what happened in the ring. Boxing Junkie scored 119-111 for Álvarez, 11 rounds to one.
Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) was an underdog for a reason, and not just because he’s eight years older than his main rival. The Kazakh boxer also moved up from 160 pounds to 168 to take on a pound-for-pound big man.
Therefore, the result was predictable.
Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) was in complete control for the first two-thirds of the fight, as he pushed the action and landed powerful head and body shots with ill intent.
Golovkin did almost nothing in response, throwing only punches here and there and an occasional power shot. He was more concerned with surviving than winning those rounds, which resulted in an uncompetitive fight for eight rounds.
Then in round 9, Golovkin came to life to some extent. He began to plant his feet and actually fought back until he rang the bell, more or less matching Alvarez blow for blow down the stretch.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for Golovkin, who dropped eight rounds on one card and seven on the other two in what could be his last superfight.
Alvarez is now 2-0-1 against Triple-G, after a disputed draw in 2017 and a majority decision victory the following year. He had called his rivalry with Golovkin a “done thing” after the second fight.
Now his series appears to be over, giving Alvarez a chance to pass opponents closer to his age.
He confirmed after the fight that No. 1 on his list is Dmitry Bivol, who stunned Alvarez and the boxing world by beating him on points in May. It was his first setback since 2013, when he lost to Floyd Mayweather.
The loss to Bivol knocked the Mexican star off the top of most pound-for-pound lists. He wants revenge.
And now that Triple-G is finally behind him, he can seek rematch with his conqueror.
