The controversial draw between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in last Saturday’s middleweight championship showdown continues to resonate throughout the boxing world. Controversial high profile fights always get extended attention – but in this instance, two of boxing’s biggest stars put on a good show, despite the unpopular verdict. This fight has huge rematch written all over it. It’s inevitable. It will happen. It’s just a matter of when.
Thanks to having had a rematch clause put in place before the fight, Saul Canelo Alvarez now appears to be in the driving seat as regards to the possibility of a rematch between he and middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. Most fans feel GGG was the rightful winner this past Saturday, only for the 160 pound, years in the making Super Fight to be scored a draw.
If you listened to Teddy Atlas’s incessant claims of corruption in boxing as a result of Adalaide Byrd’s bogus 118-110 score for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, you might have lost a bit of faith in the sport. How can two of the best fighters in the world risk so much to give the fans exactly what they’ve been craving for the last 18 months, yet fall victims to another case of dubious officiating in the sport of boxing? How can the Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett defend Byrd’s scorecard as simply an official who had a “bad day”? Where is the justice for Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, who appeared to just about everyone to have done enough to win more than 2 rounds against Canelo?
On the judging in GGG-Canelo:
“I don’t think Adalaide Byrd was watching that fight at all. She must have been in the changing room or something. I don’t know what she was doing, but she wasn’t watching that fight because GGG won the fight on my card. I give him about two rounds, possibly three rounds. But, at the same time, if it was draw, if it was 114-114, you’re not going to really argue really because it was a tight fight. But I definitely though he won (Golovkin).”
By Mauricio Sulaiman – It would be impossible not to dedicate this week’s column to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Saturday night in Las Vegas at the T Mobile Arena, Golovkin finally received the world recognition as the best fighter in the middleweight division and one of the best in the world. Canelo Alvarez fought GGG in a very entertaining fight that had the sold-out arena chanting throughout, hoping that Alvarez would bring back those glory days of Mexican warriors like Salvador Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Juan Manuel Marquez and win the fight of his life precisely on Mexican Independence Day. It didn’t happen.
Undefeated WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder will make his sixth title defense when he meets hard-hitting Cuban southpaw Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, in an event presented by Premier Boxing Champions on Saturday, Nov. 4 live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and TGB Promotions, are on sale now and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, barclayscenter.com or by calling 800-745-3000. Tickets can also be purchased at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.
Three-division world champion Leo Santa Cruz hosted a media workout Tuesday at the new Team Watson Boxing Club in Lake Balboa, Calif. as he prepares to defend his featherweight titles against Chris Avalos on Saturday, October 14 in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes from StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
It’s quite rare for any big fight to be staged on a Sunday; even rarer if the Sunday doesn’t fall on a bank holiday weekend. The big fights these days are reserved for Friday and Saturday nights, but it seems Tony Bellew and David Haye are on the verge of agreeing to a rematch of their March battle, to take place at London’s O2, on Sunday December 17th.
Haye has just tweeted the following:
The highly anticipated showdown between undefeated unified WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin and lineal middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez took place this past Saturday in Las Vegas. While the fight may not have lived up to its lofty expectations, it wound up being a very good competitively fought encounter. But despite that, the fight still wound up disappointing a large portion of fans, when it was controversially ruled a draw.
There are a few big fight cards still to come this year, but the biggest year end card that will close out what has been a good year for the sport overall could well be the one we fans will get on November 4. It has been confirmed that WBC heavyweight ruler Deontay Wilder will defend his belt against Luis Ortiz, at Barclays Centre, New York, with Showtime to televise.
A seemingly guaranteed can’t-miss shoot-out between two undefeated proven punchers, Wilder is likely to get the stiffest, most testing fight of his entire career to date. Wilder is hugely confident and deserves credit for taking such a big risk. As for Cuba’s Ortiz, he too deserves credit for taking this fight when he could have simply sat and waited for his mandatory shot at the WBA title currently held by Anthony Joshua.