It’s always great when you awake to big boxing news, and it was in the early morning hours UK time when confirmation news broke regarding the anticipated return meeting between middleweights Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. This of course is great news indeed.
Fans needed this fight to get done and now, venue aside, all the details are pretty much in place. May 5 is the date, over Cinco de Mayo festivities, and another absolute blockbuster is all but guaranteed. But will we see a great fight? Will we see a comprehensive winner? Will we see a KO?
Golovkin, who for most people deserved to win the September draw, has vowed how judges “will not be needed” this time around. But Canelo, as young, strong and bull-like as he is, will take some shifting. GGG had better make sure he invents in far more body work if he’s to slow Canelo, 49-1-2(34) down to the point where he might be able to take him out; that and do a better job of cutting off the ring on his fleet of foot, moving target this time.
But the tactics can wait for now; fans are just happy that the fight is on – this arguably being the biggest world middleweight title fight rematch, well, ever. Some of the great world middleweight title fights never had a sequel – Leonard-Hagler, Hagler-Hearns, Robinson-LaMotta (who fought oh, so many times previously, but never with the 160 pound crown on the line) for example. But this one just had to happen; the sheer demand was so great.
So where should the fight be held this time? Would it be fairest if somewhere other than Las Vegas played host to the fight, seeing as how this is where the controversial first fight went down? How about New York, maybe at Madison Square Garden? Too small a venue perhaps? Okay, how about Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas? Can Golovkin get a “fair shake” from the judges if the fight DOES take place in Vegas again? This will prove to be one big talking point should the fight get done for The Strip (or just off it) again.
Who wins? GGG, 37-0-1(33) has to be looked at as the slight favourite, primarily because he looked to have won the first fight, taking Canelo’s best shots without flinching in doing so. But will age – Triple-G will have turned 36 come the rematch – prove to be a big factor in the sequel? There are plenty of questions now and there promise to be many more as this, THE biggest fight of 2018 (so far announced) approaches.
For now fight fans everywhere can celebrate over the fight being on, on, on!