By Vince D’Writer: On Saturday night September 17 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defended his undisputed super middleweight crown against Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin. The third installment of the rivalry wasn’t as exciting as the previous two meetings, but nevertheless Alvarez was able to immediately take control of the pace of the fight, and in the end he earned a unanimous decision victory.
After starting the bout with an inactive opening round, Canelo took control of the first three quarters of the fight by using the jab, going to the body, and landing clean counter shots. Triple G stumbled out the gates with a slow start as he seemed tentative. It didn’t look like he was trying to shoot the right hand, and the only success he experienced during the first three quarters of the fight was the utilization of a touching jab. Triple G didn’t pick up his pace until the ninth round of the fight when he threw a few combinations, and was able to back Canelo up.
Despite the attempt at a rally throughout the championship rounds, GGG ended up falling short as Canelo picked up the victory, and successfully defended his undisputed super middleweight crown. From an entertainment standpoint the trilogy fight was lackluster, it had limited action, and the only big drama show occurred when the fight cards were tallied. For some odd reason the judges had the fight scored closer than it should have been, as they had the contest scored 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112, but at the end of the day, the correct fighter was awarded the unanimous decision win.
The 40- year-old Gennadiy Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) gave the impression of an aging fighter who didn’t want to take any chances, and he was satisfied with going the distance. During his post fight interview Golovkin hinted at continuing his career at 160 and defending his IBF and WBA titles. Triple G also took a moment to give Canelo his praises. “Everybody knows this is high-level class. This is the best fighter in boxing. Everyone knows who Canelo is. It’s a huge fight. Look at his face, look at my face. We trained well, and this shows that we did a very good quality fight.”
Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) capped off the trilogy with a victory, but his actual battle started after the boxing match ended. While participating in the post fight press conference, the 32-year-old addressed a line of questioning that he doesn’t like nor appreciates. “Guys, always I say this, you show that video and put whatever you want. When I say I don’t want to fight Mexican is because I represent Mexico, and that’s why, but I don’t care. I fight anybody my entire life. Whether you think I don’t want to fight with one Mexican Benavidez, but look, I hear his dad talking a lot of sh*t, but look he’s accomplished nothing, one single champion Anthony Dirrell.”
The aforementioned David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is a former two-time WBC super middleweight champion. He was stripped of his title in September 2018 due to a positive drug test, stripped again in August 2020 because he weighed in over the 168-pound weight limit, but he never loss his title inside of the ring. Benavidez has won title eliminators, and in May 2022 he scored a third round TKO victory over David Lemieux to become the WBC interim champion, but he has yet to receive an invitation to step inside of the ring with the undisputed champion. Frustration has built up in the Benavidez camp, and one particular member has been very vocal in regards to the situation.
Jose Benavidez Sr is the father and trainer of David Benavidez. During a interview with Fighthype, he expressed his thoughts on the Canelo situation. “He scared of fighting David Benavidez. If David was so easy, he wouldn’t care if he was Mexican, Black, or whatever, but he knows that David’s stronger, bigger, and he’s hungrier.” Jose continued on with his opinion of Canelo as he stated, “He doesn’t want to take the risk, or the opportunity of losing to David Benavidez and taking all of his fame. He loss to Bivol, not a problem, if he loses to David, David becomes a superstar and he is forgotten. That’s what I think.”
Canelo Alvarez is a legend in the sport of boxing, but it is becoming painfully obvious that he doesn’t want to match himself with anyone that is a known threat to his throne. Dmitry Bivol was an unpleasant surprise because it appears as though he was a cherry pick that went wrong. Bivol didn’t look overly impressive in his bouts prior to the Canelo fight, and he appeared to be the easiest route to a 175-pound title, but unfortunately for Alvarez he was overwhelmed by Bivol’s strong jab and his combination punching.
This past Saturday Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin gave boxing fans a fight they didn’t ask for. Members of the boxing community such as Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, Pauli Malignaggi, and Robert Garcia have all stated they would love to see a Canelo-Benavidez matchup. A fight between Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez is a fight that is in public demand, but unfortunately Alvarez will be out for a significant amount of time due to a hand injury. Hopefully when he makes his return to the squared circle, Canelo could give the boxing fans the fight they actually want to see.
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