On Saturday night, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez and ‘Triple G’ Gennadiy Golovkin met for their highly anticipated trilogy bout with the Super Middleweight World Championship on the line. After a draw in their first meeting and Alvarez’s closely-contested victory in the rematch, the pair came together once again to finally settle one of boxing’s biggest rivalries.
In the opening round, Alvarez came out putting pressure on Golovkin, but ‘Triple G’ held his ground and worked to establish his jab. Golovkin implemented a fairly slow pace that followed in the second round as Canelo Alvarez landed a nice hook on Golovkin. Just under a minute to go in the second, Alvarez lands another solid right hook and an overhand right as ‘Triple G’ struggles to find his target. Alvarez began to open up in the third, being more aggressive and beginning to target the body. After three rounds, Alvarez appeared to be in control, landing with the jab, controlling the pace and rendering Golovkin’s offense ineffective thus far.
Coming out for the fourth, Alvarez remains a step ahead of Golovkin and continues to bring an aggressive pace over the 40-year-old challenger. Canelo Alvarez clearly has the speed advantage as ‘Triple G’ is unable to land anything beyond the occasional jab. 25-seconds to go in the round, Alvarez throws a thunderous right that Golovkin partially blocks, but is unable to answer as the fourth comes to a close. More of the same in the fifth round as Alvarez closes it with a big overhand right followed by a left hook that gets the attention of Golovkin.
As the sixth round closes, ‘Triple G’ is still hesitant to pull the trigger and the crowd is beginning to get a bit restless with the lack of activity from the challenger. The seventh round comes and goes with Canelo Alvarez continuing his control. ‘Triple G’ is beginning to look a bit dejected and it’s clear that Golovkin can’t keep up with the speed of Alvarez as the bell sounds indicating the end of the eighth round.
In the ninth, ‘Triple G’ came out, likely sensing time was running out and began to let his hands go, backing up Alvarez briefly. Golovkin began to stalk Alvarez, pushing him to the ropes as the chamipon returned fire. It was the first round where Golovkin appeared to have the advantage. As the competitive tenth round closes, an accidental headbutt opens up a small cut on the right eye of Alvarez. After another competitive round in the eleventh, both fighters come out swinging in the twelvth and final round.
Alvarez continues moving forward while Golovkin appears content to counterstrike and simply cross the finish line. Each time the fighters get close, ‘Triple G’ clinches, hoping to avoid any additional damage as the final seconds tick away. As the final bell sounds, the two fighters embrace in the middle of the ring and await the official decision.
Official Result: Canelo Alvarez def. Gennadiy Golovkin via unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 115-113)