Five years or more, that’s how long it took for a number of boxing rivalries to get settled, and five years is how long it will take for the bitter, intense and wholly exciting rivalry between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez to get sorted out. We know now that the third and final fight between these two will go down in September – on the 17th, as was officially announced yesterday – and fans are not sure what to expect.
Canelo, who was clearly beaten in fight-one with GGG, this despite the fact that the judges somehow managed to give the Mexican star a draw, has lost a good deal of his invincibility due to his comprehensive loss to Dmitry Bivol. Despite the fact that the loss came at 175 pounds, this perhaps a step too far for Canelo, fans are wondering how the defeat might affect Canelo’s state of mind, his confidence. If he is a mentally compromised fighter, Golovkin is not the kind of guy Canelo needs to be facing next.
Then again, some people have suggested Canelo, back down to his natural 168 pounds, will do a job on the 40 year old Triple-G and be, ‘back on top of the world.’ What we do know is this: GGG-Canelo III is now a far more interesting fight, one that is being looked at as far more competitive, this due to Canelo losing and Golovkin having looked solid (if a little slow) in battering Ryota Murata in his last fight, this in April.
Canelo fought a better fight in the rematch with Golovkin, yet even here plenty of people (this writer included) felt GGG deserved the decision. So will we get a clear-cut, out and out winner this time? Fights one and two were exciting, fan-friendly affairs and there is no real reason to think fight-three will be a stinker. Will the move up to 168 even benefit the ageing Golovkin? On the other hand, how will the shedding of an apparent 7-pounds of muscle affect a 32 year old Canelo?
Golovkin’s amazing chin hell up to anything and everything Canelo hit it with in fights one and two, but might the higher weight and older age make things different this time round? In the great trilogies – Ali-Frazier, Duran-DeJesus, Barrera-Morales, to name just three, we got three different fights spread out over three meetings. Maybe we will get something unexpected on September 17 as GGG and Canelo finally settle their rivalry.
We now have a super fight to look forward to, as well as the end of a chapter. Who will write the definitive ending? Will either fighter be able to do so? If it’s another nip-and-tuck decision in September, the call for a fourth fight will doubtless be heard.
Will Golovkin, 42-1-1(37) and Canelo, 57-2-2(39) have had enough of each other come September?