The rematch is finally set. According to HBO Boxing, the highly anticipated rematch between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin has finally been agreed upon to take place on May 5, 2018. A location for the bout has not yet been confirmed. Alvarez, the reigning Ring middleweight champion, and Golovkin, the current WBA, WBC, IBF […]
According to HBO Boxing, the highly anticipated rematch between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin has finally been agreed upon to take place on May 5, 2018.
A location for the bout has not yet been confirmed.
Alvarez, the reigning Ring middleweight champion, and Golovkin, the current WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO first did battle this past September in a 12-round bout that was ultimately deemed a draw. Many, however, felt as if “GGG” should’ve received the nod, and judge Adelaide Byrd came under extreme fire for her ludicrous 118-110 card in favor of “Canelo”.
Either way, both men proved that they are at the top of the 160-pound division and the score will now be settled in the coming months.
Prior to the first fight, Alvarez had won seven-straight fights since dropping a decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2013. His most notable victories in that stretch came over the likes of Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Golovkin, on the other hand, possessed a perfect 37-0 record prior to his first meeting with Alvarez. 33 of those victories have come by way of knockout and the Kazakh slugger owns notable wins over the likes of David Lemieux, Kell Brook and Daniel Jacobs.
Boxing will once again put together a mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, as reports are surfacing stating the rematch will go down on May 5, 2018 in Las Vegas. While the first fight ended in a draw, both men are widely regarded as the two best lighter weight boxers in the world, […]
Boxing will once again put together a mega fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, as reports are surfacing stating the rematch will go down on May 5, 2018 in Las Vegas.
While the first fight ended in a draw, both men are widely regarded as the two best lighter weight boxers in the world, especially with Floyd Mayweather now once again retired and Manny Pacquiao no longer fighting in his prime.
According to an interview by the LA Times with Golden Boy Entertainment President Eric Gomez, a third fight between the two isn’t off the table as well.
“It’s going to be another great fight, so it’ll likely be a natural to do another rematch, but it’s not in the agreement. We want to concentrate on getting this [second Alvarez-Golovkin fight] done and then we can talk about a third fight later. I know Canelo’s going to win. I think Canelo figured him out in the last three rounds. Look at that fight. Canelo handled [Golovkin] those last three rounds. And this time around, Canelo’s going to have an easier time with him. Not an easy fight, but he has the experience now and he wants this fight.”
Boxing has been in a bit of a lull ever since Mayweather vs. McGregor and the first GGG vs. Alvarez fights late last year. Heavyweights like Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua are gaining some well-deserved notoriety, but a bout between the two seems unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future.
Until then, the fight to make is a rematch between GGG vs. Canelo, which reports say will be held in the new T-Mobile Arena.
Who do you see winning the rematch between Golovkin and Alvarez? Is that the best possible bout to make in boxing right now?
Frequently known to produce head-scratching scorecards in big fights, Las Vegas judge Adalaide Byrd saw her critics rise to a never-before-seen level when she scored last Saturday’s massive GGG vs. Canelo Alvarez an astounding 118-110 for Alvarez in a bout many felt Golovkin had won, resulting in a jaw-dropping draw overall. After the disappointing result […]
Frequently known to produce head-scratching scorecards in big fights, Las Vegas judge Adalaide Byrd saw her critics rise to a never-before-seen level when she scored last Saturday’s massive GGG vs. Canelo Alvarez an astounding 118-110 for Alvarez in a bout many felt Golovkin had won, resulting in a jaw-dropping draw overall.
After the disappointing result in a fight most boxing purists felt was supposed to re-establish the legitimacy of their sport following the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor spectacle of last month, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) voiced their continued support for Byrd, whose judging saw her as the sole disagreeing score in six split decisions in MMA last year according to MMA Decisions.
But now, they could be waffling on that support – or something. NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told MMA Fighting this week that he would speak with chairman Anthony Marnell, and together they would decideByrd’s fate for the upcoming UFC 216 pay-per-view on October 7 from Las Vegas:
“I will speak with the chairman (Anthony Marnell III) and Adalaide and we will decide in a week or so.”
Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY SportsC
That was a bit of a departure from Bennett’s previous assessment of the situation, however, as he previously told The Independent that he would give Byrd ‘a break’ as she needed to ‘catch her breath’:
“I’m not going to put her right back in. She’ll still be in the business, but she needs to catch her breath.
“Like in any profession, you have a bad night. Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing, but her score was too wide.”
Indeed the 118-110 score was ‘too wide,’ with a massive windfall of criticism befalling both Byrd and the NSAC for employing her, with some even going as far as to suggest widespread corruption in the grossly uneven draw, where judge Dave Moretti had it 115-113 in favor of Golovkin, and Don Trella scored it an even 114-114.
UFC 216 will feature two title fights when Tony Ferguson meets rising Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight title in the main event while Demetrious Johnson attempts to set the all-time record for consecutive UFC title defenses versus Ray Borg in the co-main event. Needless to say, those are two fights that could certainly do without the inconsistency of Byrd’s judging.
For her part, Byrd absolutely refused to address the situation to MMA Fighting, stating she was oblivious to the criticism so therefore could not comment in a laughable bit of deflection:
“I don’t know anything about that. That’s really all I can say.
“I can’t comment on anything, because I haven’t seen or read anything at all,” Byrd said. “I can’t comment, because I don’t even know what people are saying.”
If she truly does not know what people are saying about her farce of a score for boxing’s most hotly contested bout of 2017, then perhaps the NSAC should take some responsibility for once and give her the break Bennett previously discussed.
After all, it’s just not worth putting fighters’ livelihoods on the line in a sport where the hurt each other for money, especially in a city like Las Vegas where capable judges would seem to be readily available. What do you think? Should Byrd be put on temporary hiatus, or should she simply be let go outright?
After nearly two years of anticipation and build-up, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin finally met in the squared circle last night (Sept. 16, 2017) in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a bout between not only two of the best middleweights in the world, but two of the best fighters in the world period, the action […]
After nearly two years of anticipation and build-up, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin finally met in the squared circle last night (Sept. 16, 2017) in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a bout between not only two of the best middleweights in the world, but two of the best fighters in the world period, the action didn’t disappoint, although the decision did.
Judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 115-113 for Golovkin, while Don Trella scored it 114-114. Both scores appeared to be somewhat reasonable given how close the fight was, but the final score, which came from Adelaide Byrd, read 118-110 in favor of “Canelo”, and it’s safe to say that the boxing community wasn’t pleased with that view.
In the end, the bout was deemed a draw despite many feeling as if Golovkin had won, and boxing legend Teddy Atlas blames the decision on ‘corruption in boxing’:
“Corruption in boxing,” Atlas said bluntly when asked on ESPN what he thought about the decision. “Follow the money. And no one else is going to say that in boxing, and some people are going to be very upset, and I don’t care. I don’t care if they’re upset.”
Atlas continued on, with his anger noticeably increasing, as he discussed the need for more ‘federal guidelines’ in the sport of boxing, so that issues like this can be limited:
“There’s money to be made in the casino business, but there is an oversight board to make sure there is no corruption. There’s no oversight board in boxing,” an enraged Atlas shouted.
“There’s no commission. There’s no national commission. No federal guidelines. Nobody looking and saying, ‘Ah, can’t do that! Oh, can’t do that! You can’t be charge! Promoter can’t be in charge of who the judges are going to be! No, of course you want these judges. You can’t be in charge; we’re in charge. We’re going to oversee it, we’re going to police it, we’re going to make sure that there’s no corruption.’ There’s nothing.”
At long last, Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin did battle last night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight, which was a highly anticipated one, was an entertaining back-and-forth war, but it ended in controversy, as the judges ruled it a draw. […]
At long last, Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin did battle last night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight, which was a highly anticipated one, was an entertaining back-and-forth war, but it ended in controversy, as the judges ruled it a draw. Despite may feeling as if Golovkin was the clear winner, many in the combat sports world also seem to feel as if a draw is a reasonable score, although one judge’s scorecard has received quite a bit of criticism.
Adalaide Byrd scored the fight 118-110 for “Canelo”, and Bob Bennet, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said that she simply had a ‘bad day’:
“Adalaide, in my estimation, is an outstanding judge. She’s done over 115 title fights and/or elimination bouts. She does a great deal of our training. Takes a lot of our judges under her wing. I think being a judge is a very challenging position,” Bennett told ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
“Unfortunately, Adalaide was a little wide. I’m not making any excuses. I think she’s an outstanding judge, and in any business, sometimes you have a bad day. She saw the fight differently. It happens,” he concluded.
In combat sports, we often see questionable decisions made by judges, but how did you score the bout between Alvarez and Golovkin?
Judging played a pivotal role in one of the biggest boxing matches of 2017, so much so that an otherwise exciting fight actually ended up leaving a sour taste in fight fans’ mouths. While Gennady Golovkin’s signature pressure seemed to have won him yet another fight, the judges’ scorecards felt as though he and Canelo […]
Judging played a pivotal role in one of the biggest boxing matches of 2017, so much so that an otherwise exciting fight actually ended up leaving a sour taste in fight fans’ mouths.
While Gennady Golovkin’s signature pressure seemed to have won him yet another fight, the judges’ scorecards felt as though he and Canelo Alvarez fought to a draw.
Boxers and mixed martial artists alike took to Twitter immediately after the draw was announced and as you can imagine, none of them were happy about the result.
