Go back to 2017, and the middleweight rivalry between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez was the hottest story line in the sport. There ended up being two excellent fights, there was controversy in the form of the almost universally lambasted drawn verdict in fight-one, then, later, came the clenbuterol scandal the Mexican star was embroiled in, then the two stars got signed up by DAZN, and then, most recently, the two bitter rivals suffered the way everyone else in boxing (and elsewhere) has suffered due to the coronavirus.
Now, as we are (hopefully) coming towards the end of lockdown conditions, is the GGG-Canelo rivalry still one that excites you, one that needs settling? Will we still see a third fight, and are you as interested in seeing it as you were a couple of years or so ago? Canelo, yet to box again after making history by winning a portion of the light-heavyweight title in November, seems unlikely to get back down to 160 pounds again. GGG on the other hand, is still operating at middleweight. But a lot has changed since that first Golovkin-Canelo fight.
Canelo, yet to turn 30, might be at his peak, whereas Triple-G, closing in on his 40th birthday, has shown considerable wear and tear. It could be argued that GGG deserved to win both of the first two fights, yet if there is a fight-three, chances are big, in the opinion of many fans, that Canelo, so much younger and fresher, will win and win big. Some say Canelo will even knock GGG out – this an unthinkable sight back in 2017.
Canelo, 53-1-2(36) is still searching for an opponent for his September 12th fight, while Golovkin, 40-1-1(35) is also yet to officially announce his next fight (although it looks as though it will be GGG against Kamil Szeremeta). Assuming both men win, will we then see Golovkin-Canelo III some time in 2021? Do you still want to see it, do you still need to see it? What weight should it be fought at? Who wins? Has this third fight, and with it the closing of this rivalry, passed its sell-by date?
Plenty of great boxing rivalries have taken four years or more to reach their conclusion, and it’s not as though GGG is anything like approaching shot, far from it. But if the third fight doesn’t happen next year, chances are it will never happen. Canelo has everything on his side it seems, and GGG is old enough to be taken in 2021.