Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez settles accounts with Gennady Golovkin at T-Mobile Arena, with Golovkin, at 40, nothing like the fighter of yesteryear, writes Elliot Worsell from Las Vegas
WHEN the crowd inside Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena got to their feet with 20 seconds left in the 12th round of a trilogy fight between arch rivals Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin, they did. more in thanks. of everything the couple did before tonight than, for 36 minutes, they did tonight.
When in doubt, know that 30 seconds before he got to his feet, this same crowd could be heard booing loudly, so frustrated they seemed, by the enthusiasm with which Golovkin, in particular, sought to contain at the end of his 36 rounds. They wanted more, apparently. More action. More drama. More “Dramatic Show”.
We all did, in fact, even if that was a belief probably fueled more by hope than expectation. Whatever it is, here in Las Vegas, where only the city’s boxers have to face both the reality of life and their own mortality, Golovkin, as many expected, aged overnight.
He lost tonight by scores of 115-113 (twice) and 116-112, meaning he hasn’t been able to (officially) beat Alvarez now in three tries, but this was by far the clearest and, of many, ways. , revealer of the three. One could even argue that the scorecards, like the crowd’s reaction with 20 seconds to go, were more of a tribute to the previous two fights – better yet, call it a symbolic gesture or an apology – than an actual reflection of what that happened tonight at the T-Mobile Arena.
Because tonight at T-Mobile Arena, Gennady Golovkin couldn’t do what he did to great effect in fight one, not even close to replicating what he did in fight number two. Instead, despite winning the first round behind his jab on my undercard, as well as the eighth and ninth rounds through sheer will and determination, he struggled to gain a foothold in the fight and, moreover, struggled to offer anything remotely resembling threat. that he introduced to Álvarez in their first two meetings.
Tonight, with so-called legacy on the line, Golovkin and his supporters were left to curse the fact that his legacy will now be defined by many of his peak years spent demolishing subpar opposition because of real opposition, those in the league of Alvarez. preferring to look the other way. They will also curse the Kazakh’s luck in fight number one, which took place in Las Vegas in 2017 and should have been the night Golovkin walked away with the win that would have made him a not-so-easy-to-avoid proposition, as well as curse the fact. that it took four years after the 2018 rematch for this trilogy fight to materialize.
By the time he did, Golovkin didn’t have much to offer beyond his reputation and the threat that there might still be something left in a body forced to endure more than 350 amateur fights and now 45 pros. His jab, an underrated weapon throughout his career, actually kept him safe in the fight and won him the first round, but he couldn’t threaten Alvarez with anything more than that until he got desperate. around the eighth.
Until that moment everything had been Álvarez. Worse than that, too, it had become a fight in which the Mexican was able to dominate despite doing very little himself. He could, for example, win rounds by exploding with the occasional left hook and overhand right, with Golovkin too slow to respond, trigger jammed. He might as well forget about having to use his own jab, a punch he knows is inferior to Golovkin’s, because the path to the target didn’t require it. It turned out that all he required was for the 32-year-old Alvarez to nod his head, stay off the line and drop two and three whenever he felt Golovkin was off guard or gasping for breath.
Come to think of it, it was difficult to determine early on whether Golovkin’s constant, economical approach was part of some master plan or simply a consequence of the aging process. He seemed, at first glance, cool and collected and constantly planning something, however, as the rounds went on, and as Golovkin did little more than explore the openings with his jab, it became increasingly apparent that what everyone they feared before the fight, in fact, it had become a sad reality: Golovkin was not only human, but he was aging before our eyes.
In the fourth round, if he had ever been in doubt, now it was obvious. The intensity of yesteryear was gone, the ferocity and pressure of yesteryear was gone, and suddenly all Golovkin could do was stalk, throw his jab like a range finder, and try his best to make Alvarez miss every time. went into action. .
It was in that round, the fourth, that Alvarez appeared to stabilize Golovkin with a hook in an exchange, which led to some nice additional work in the fifth, a round in which Alvarez continued to target the body, then stepped in with a right hook. . combination of hands that more than caught Golovkin’s attention.
Too fast and too spiteful, Alvarez was soon pounding the body of a man whose body was strong enough to handle it, but who could no longer react as before. He left Golovkin stuck, conflicted, powerless. It meant that Alvarez, by far the freshest and fastest fighter, effectively had free rein to punch when he wanted to punch and move when he wanted to move.
All Golovkin, for his part, could do in response was take cover and then walk away. He wasn’t an ordinary gait either, now he walked like an old man, sad, not once thinking of speeding up his feet or shooting something in response.
Ideally, given a choice, the pace would be slower for Golovkin. That was clear. It was also becoming clear to the crowd, who reacted to this assumption by booing midway through the sixth round. They, by all accounts, wanted more of a flow of action and Golovkin, whether he was unwilling or unable to offer them much more than his jab, reneged on his end of the bargain.
Perhaps somehow aware of his disapproval, or perhaps simply encouraged to do more in his corner between rounds, Golovkin tried to increase his activity rate and sense of urgency in the eighth. That turned out to be his best round since the first, in fact, and finally, after being silent for much of the fight, his Kazakh fans slowly came to life, a change signified by chants of “Triple! G! Triple G! Triple G!”
About time, at the start of that round, as predictable as the action was starting to get, former lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez appeared in the press line to greet each of the media members with a fist bump. Tellingly, there were few at the time, despite the sudden distraction and restricted view, complaining about the interruption. In fact, for most, he was welcome.
However, Golovkin, while disappointing at first, gave many of us hope in the eighth and also, to a lesser degree, in the ninth. In both rounds, he offered reminders of the fighter he used to be, either bending over trademark left hooks or, while he was on the front foot, driving Alvarez to the ropes and holding him there with a stiff, spiteful combination.
The crowd reacted to this, almost begging him to stick it out and continue this way, but of course it was short-lived, as is the case with most things when a fighter hits 40. These periods of success will also be shorter. when the 40-year-old is pitted against a man like Álvarez, someone as capable of sensing the changes of the moment as Golovkin.
Entering 10, Alvarez made some adjustments of his own and was once again picking up the pace, hooking well to the body and also nailing Golovkin with a hook to the face. That was one more shot available as the fight went on and Golovkin began to lean in, seemingly looking for a finish, but it wasn’t the only shot Alvarez, 58-2-2 (39), had success with. His bodywork continued to impress, as did the hook that he throws faster than most, and certainly faster than Golovkin.
Of all the things they’ve argued over over the years, speed was never one of them. However, what undoubtedly made the speed difference so alarming tonight was that Golovkin, although he always accepted this reality, this time was unable to do anything himself to counteract it. His jab didn’t work. Neither do the power shots from him. Even power itself, once the scourge of the middleweight division, didn’t have the same impact at 168 pounds, either due to the weight gain or, more likely, the fact that Golovkin was fighting against a modern great. Like the same
Either way, Golovkin, 42-2-1 (37), failed to impress Alvarez, early or late, and, somewhat tellingly, by the 11th round he was committing that cardinal sin of any great fighter by going out. . In other words, in the penultimate round, the former middleweight champion could be seen resorting to glove-touching and nodding more regularly, a move, in this context, less about respect and more, it seems, about acceptance. .
With no choice in the matter, Golovkin had to accept that he was second best. He was second best to Alvarez tonight in Las Vegas and the records will show that he has also been second best to Alvarez in the three fights they have now shared. More importantly though, and perhaps what Gennady Golovkin really had in mind as he nodded his head in round 11, was that he was left with no choice but to accept that tonight he was the second best version of himself and which, sadly, version one is probably gone forever.
