September 18, (THEWILL) – Saul “Canelo” Alvarez outclassed Gennadiy Golovkin, despite a late flurry from the latter, winning by unanimous decision to retain his title as the undisputed super middleweight champion.
As the two fought each other for the first time in four years, the bout got off to a cagey start, but things rapidly started to go in favour of the younger Alvarez as Golovkin appeared every bit of his 40-year-old. The Mexican won the opening rounds, consistently connecting with his blows, while Golovkin hardly offered anything of a response.
With time catching up with the Kazakh, Alvarez then started to leave facial bruises on Golovkin early in the fourth round. For the better part of seven rounds, Golovkin was powerless against Alvarez’s accelerated speed. The 40-year-old nonetheless let fly in the eighth after realising he needed to generate some kind of effort if he was to avoid losing.
Towards the close of the eighth round and for the bulk of the ninth, Golovkin finally found a target for some of his jabs, but it was unable to halt Alvarez’s progress. Golovkin dug deeper, but Alvarez had a counterpunch for each his blows.
Ultimately, a unanimous vote gave the victory to the Mexican. However, there was some scepticism over the judges’ scorecards. The baffling fact was that even though Alvarez overwhelmingly dominated the majority of the bout, Alvarez shockingly scored a tight 115-113 on two scorecards.ling fact was that even though Alvarez overwhelmingly dominated the majority of the bout, Alvarez shockingly scored a tight 115-113 on two scorecards.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
