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LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez admitted that fatigue hampered him during the closing rounds of his 12-round victory against Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday night.
Alvarez, 32, got off to a strong start and built a sizable lead on the scorecards, but Golovkin gave him some trouble once it became clear Alvarez tired in the ninth round. Golovkin trailed 78-74 on all three scorecards by then, allowing Álvarez to secure a victory that seemed more comfortable than the official scores submitted by judges Dave Moretti (116-112), David Sutherland (115-113) and Steve Weissfeld (115-113).
Alvarez explained during his post-fight press conference that his inability to train as hard as he wanted to prepare hurt his performance in the later rounds of his third fight at T-Mobile Arena.
“I think towards the end of the fight I obviously started to feel a little fatigued,” said Alvarez, who retained his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles. “And that’s because we haven’t been able to work explosively in the gym. But this fight, with the problems that we had, I am very happy with the performance tonight.
Guadalajara’s Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) didn’t define exactly what he meant by working out “explosively” in the gym, but he also revealed that his left wrist has been sore since he knocked out Caleb Plant in the 11th round on Saturday. last November 6 at the nearby MGM Grand Garden Arena. He will undergo surgery to repair cartilage damage in his wrist, which could keep him out of the ring until at least next May.
Alvarez said before fighting Golovkin for the third time, however, that his fragile knees allowed him to work in this training camp for the first time in more than four years. That should have improved his conditioning, but Alvarez, who has long dealt with stamina issues, was noticeably tired in the last four rounds.
Golovkin, 40, threw 34 more punches overall than Alvarez but averaged only eight power shots in the first eight rounds, according to unofficial CompuBox stats. Golovkin averaged 20 power shots over the last four rounds, but even less than Alvarez, who landed nearly twice as many power shots overall (85 for 217 to 46 for 171).
Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) landed more jabs than Alvarez overall (74 of 350 to 45 of 270), but the Kazakhstan native seemed hesitant to throw right hands, particularly during the first half of his career. struggle.
“What I feel is that he didn’t throw his right hand because maybe he thought he was going to fight back,” Alvarez said. “Maybe that’s why he only throws his left hand. I just did my job. It was also very difficult to hit him, because it’s like protecting everything, you know? It is very difficult.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
