Canelo Realized in ‘First Round’ That Knocking Golovkin Out Would Be Tough

At the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Mexican superstar Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) retained the IBF, WBA, WBO and WBA super middleweight titles when he outpointed Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1). , 37 KOs) for the majority of his trilogy he fights to a twelve-round unanimous decision.

The scores were 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.

Most observers rated Canelo the winner by a much wider margin.

Their first fight, in 2017, ended in a controversial twelve-round split draw. The 2018 rematch saw Canelo win a very close majority decision over twelve rounds. Both bouts took place in the middleweight division.

Before the fight, Canelo had promised to send the 40-year-old Golovkin into retirement.

But Golovkin, though he dominated for many of the rounds, was never seriously injured or in trouble.

Canelo explains that he realized early on that knocking out Golovkin would be difficult.

“First round, [I knew it would be hard to knock Golovkin out]Canelo said. “I knew it’s tough. He is a tough fighter.”

Canelo would also indicate that his left hand was injured during the fight and affected him during the fight. The injury was pre-existing and appears to have worsened while he was fighting Golovkin.

There was talk of Canelo fighting again in the first half of 2023, but that appears to be in real jeopardy as he plans to have surgery to repair his left hand injury.

“I need surgery. My left hand isn’t right. But I’m fine. I’m a warrior. That’s why I’m here. I can’t hold a glass.” [because my hand is so bad]. It’s really bad. But I am a warrior,” Canelo said.

“I need to go back and take strength in my hand, get my hand back and my body back so I can come back stronger than ever.”