In the post-Mayweather and Pacquiao era of boxing — Pacquiao is still around and still a star, but you know what I mean — Canelo Alvarez has emerged as boxing’s most reliable draw at the gate.
Groomed to be a superstar from his teenage years, Alvarez has received the standard mixed reviews that come from contemporary critics and fans, but has been very successful, winning world titles at 154, 160, 175, and kind of at 168 pounds.
When he fought Mayweather in 2013, he wound up still being a bit under-prepared, a 23-year-old rising star taking a shot at the 36-year-old king and missing. But when Mayweather retired in 2015, save for his novelty fight with Conor McGregor in 2017, boxing needed a new top guy.
Alvarez took that crown. First, he beat Miguel Cotto in November of that year, his first real, true “star” victory. But there was a lot of call for him to go to 160 — really go there, not fight at 155 pound catchweights — and fight Gennadiy Golovkin.
It finally happened in Sept. 2017, in one of the most highly-anticipated and ultimately one of the most controversial fights of recent years.
Canelo (49-1-1, 34 KO coming in) was now a MAN! with his MAN STRENGTH! having come through at age 27. But Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO coming in) was a 35-year-old threat to be sure, a knockout artist whose punishing attacks left more than one opponent stunned at just what sort of fury he could unleash.
A tactical affair is what we got from Canelo-GGG, and at a very high level. Golovkin is no crude brawler, and while Canelo has become more boxer than puncher, it’s not like he can’t bang.
Scores were all over the place from media and fans. On our two cards at Bad Left Hook, we had it 115-113 and 116-112, both for Golovkin. The official judges had it 114-114 and 115-113, the latter for Golovkin, which were reasonable scores, and then an absurd 118-110 in Alvarez’s favor from Adalaide Byrd, a performance that should have forced Nevada to take away her license, but did not, as she’s still scoring fights to this day.
How did you score it then, or how do you score it now?