On the night of September 15, 2018, Canelo Alvarez took the centre of the ring at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, and refused to give it back. Twelve rounds later, two of the three judges saw him beat Gennadiy Golovkin, and the trilogy’s most stylistically pivotal chapter belonged to the Mexican.
The scorecards read 115-113 for Alvarez from Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld, and 114-114 from Glenn Feldman, for a majority decision reported by ESPN before a sellout crowd of 21,965. With it went the WBA (Super), WBC and IBO middleweight titles, and Golovkin’s 20-defence reign at 160 pounds.
Alvarez stopped circling and started walking forward
The story of the night was not the scoring but the geography. In their September 2017 draw, Alvarez had spent long stretches on the ropes and let Golovkin decide the pace. In the rematch, he pressed the centre of the ring, dug in with combinations to the ribs, and landed 46 body shots to Golovkin’s six across the twelve rounds.
“I showed my victory with facts,” Alvarez said afterward. “He was the one who was backing up.”
Read also: Maldini cleared on drugs, but the breathalyzer reading may still cost him an Italy call-up
That was the tactical inversion in one sentence. Golovkin, the pressure fighter who came in 38-0-1, spent much of the night moving backward with his jab as his primary weapon while Alvarez leaned in and worked the body.
Golovkin never conceded, but he did not argue
Golovkin left the ring without speaking to broadcasters, then returned with a line that has aged into the record.
“I’m not going to say who won tonight, because the victory belongs to Canelo, according to the judges,” Golovkin said.
His trainer at the time, Abel Sanchez, was more direct.
Read also: 'Proper chaos' at UFC 331: a $50,000 bonus with no rules and one man deciding it
“I thought we did enough to win but I can’t complain because Canelo fought a great fight,” Sanchez told reporters after the decision.
Media scoring told the other side of the argument. Of 18 outlets polled after the fight, 10 had Golovkin winning, seven called it even, and one gave it to Alvarez. Eight years later that split is still the reason the fight gets re-litigated online every September.
The trilogy that closed at super-middleweight
The two would fight once more, on September 17, 2022, again at the T-Mobile Arena, but at 168 pounds and with Alvarez’s undisputed super-middleweight titles on the line. Alvarez took a unanimous decision on scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, and Golovkin has not fought Alvarez again.
The rematch is the fight the trilogy turns on. Golovkin was 40 when he stepped in for the third bout and no longer the same walk-forward force; the second bout caught both men at their sharpest. It ended with Alvarez holding every belt at middleweight and Golovkin with his unbeaten record gone.
Read also: France walks out as Infantino runs on 'Football belongs to everyone'
Read also: Babar Azam signs for OGDCL and heads back to first-class cricket after seven years away
