However, with yet another controversial decision for the Middleweight title, I decided to get my thoughts down on "paper" now as Canelo Alvarez dethroned longtime WBA and WBC champion Gennady Golovkin via a majority decision in Las Vegas.
It's not only that I thought the wrong fighter ( I had Golovkin winning the final three rounds to break open an even fight to win 116-113, 7-4-1 in rounds) won and not about the decision really, I can see how someone could score a 7-5 win for Alvarez as there were some close rounds,
I would disagree with that take, but I can see how you'd arrive at it, but the frustrating thing is that it rarely (every once in a huge while) goes the way of the non-house fighter, which means it usually goes the house fighters way if it is reasonably close.
That after all, is the "Time-honored tradition of the business" (remember Vince McMahon drumming that phrase into heads after the Montreal screwjob with Bret Hart?), if you want to beat the house fighter for sure- you better knock him out and for all of the power of Gennady Golovkin, in 24 reasonably close rounds, he never once turned on the gas and went for the one option that they could not take victory away from him.
If I could change one thing about these fights and it might not have been as effective, I would like to have seen Golovkin go after Canelo, not worry about scoring points, stalk him like a tiger and see if that would have gotten him out of there.
That reminded me a little of Roberto Duran as he rose in weight, he was more technically proficient than as a lightweight perhaps, but the animal that Duran was at 135 was never more.
Golovkin's change didn't come with a rise in weight, it came with a rise in competition in matches against Daniel Jacobs and Alvarez and it almost seemed like he was too civilized to paraphrase Mickey in Rocky III.
I would like to have seen That Golovkin against Canelo and take my chances.
Canelo Alvarez was the boxer, not the aggressor in the first fight, and was the fighter that won many late rounds to earn a draw in a bout that almost all observers thought was a charge that could best be described as too little, too late.
In the rematch, Canelo was much more aggressive and came forward to engage far more often in winning more early rounds before losing most of the later rounds.
Yet. in both cases, whether he was aggressive or defensive, whether he was building a lead or commanding a late run, it was Alvarez that received the benefit of the doubt, not Golovkin.
How can a fighter win against the tide, when there is no consistency in what the judges are rewarding?
Other than rewarding the promoter's fighter that is. that is almost always consistent and you can generally count on that.
This fight really reminded me of the first (and only) Marvin Hagler-Ray Leonard contest and not in the ring because this fight was more entertaining than Hagler-Leonard.
Where it reminded me of Hagler-Leonard was outside the ring.
Hagler's management was determined to get as much money as possible from negotiations for their fight and basically gave Leonard everything else, rounds (12 instead of the then-still used 15), size of the ring because Hagler and his team had been the outsider, the B-side throughout their career and how they proved they had "made it" was for their guy to out-earn the "Golden Boy" (Ray Leonard was Oscar De La Hoya before we knew who he was) for the fight and instead gave every advantage to Leonard, essentially not giving their fighter the best chance to win.
Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler took a different direction with the same result.
Like Hagler, it was Golovkin that was the workhorse, beating fighter after fighter, being avoided by the best and actually seeing the peak of their fighter being wasted against lesser fighters while the best of the game ducked their man (Hagler was ducked for years by three different champions in Hugo Corro, Vito Antuofermo, and Alan Minter until mandated to get his shot while Golovkin held a title but never could get Sergio Martinez or Miguel Cotto in the ring).
Loeffler's moves in any rematch were to gain some of the advantages back- Golovkin earned a larger purse share (45 percent this time) than in the first fight, he had more control over the selected referee and was able to have the right of first refusal of the judges chosen, but what Loeffler didn't realize or maybe he did and figured if his man didn't take the other fighter out, he was going to lose anyway, so why not have the best chance in theory, if not execution.
This is why after such problems making the rematch, Canelo's PED suspension and despite Golovkin still holding two titles, Alvarez still held most of the cards- he was the draw, he had the promoter and he had the power.
And that is why I don't believe there will be a third fight right away or even at all -Golden Boy Promotions now holds all the cards, Canelo didn't want to fight peak GGG and he arguably lost twice to the 35 and 36-year-old models of him, if there is a 3rd fight, it will be years down the road far after the peak of Golovkin is just a memory on YouTube.
Oscar De La Hoya used Ray Leonard's M.O for his career and now uses it for Canelo- Only offer rematches when you lose (or Draw), if you win, no matter how it is pulled off it's onto new things.
Which is why if there is a third fight, it will be years away with GGG being considered a non-threat, remember that the only reason Thomas Hearns was given his rematch with Leonard was after being knocked out by Iran Barkley and was thought to be washed up?
Roberto Duran was given his chance for redemption nine years later when he had slowed to the point of having little chance against quicker fighters although he was still capable of surprising wins against fighters that didn't move around the ring.
And the final parallel to Marvin Hagler for Gennady Golovkin for me?
When I heard the decision (I watched the fight a few hours later), I instantly thought of Marvin Hagler and how he handled losing a dubious decision- he walked away and beat Ray Leonard for good in the only way that he could.
He passed on oodles of dollars for a rematch and walked away-never to fight again.
The ultimate screw you to Ray Leonard, boxing and its rigged game, I'm not giving you any further memories and I'm not giving you the chance for one more chance to do it again- no matter how much money you give me to do it.
I'd love to see Gennady Golovkin do just that as the final link to Marvin Hagler and in the background, you can play the standard song for such occasions- My Way.
Golovkin has made plenty of money and despite these two fights with Alvarez that most feel that he won, the feared destroyer is in the past and now that his undefeated record is gone, there really is no reason to stay, I'd like to see him just walk away.
Sidebar, someone out there (far more talented in creating videos than I) needs to put Golovkin highlights to My Way and during the crescendo, have his reactions to the Canelo decisions and when the song slows show GGG walking to the locker room. (I wish I was as talented in execution as I am in ideas)
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored eight points.
Ramon scored three points for Jaime Munguia's three-round squash match against Brandon Cox (Bonus point for calling the round), two for Friday's win by Jose Ramirez in a terrific fight against Antonio Orozco that deserved more of my attention here, and for David Lemieux's one punch devastation of Spike O'Sullivan and one for Roman Gonzalez's win.
My eight came via these avenues; three from Gonzalez's fifth-round KO (bonus point for calling the round), two each from the Ramirez and Munguia wins, and one from the Lemieux victory.
I lead the challenge 141-119.
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