Are we ready for the fight of year?
After waiting for a year between drinks, here we are preparing for the second instalment of another much-anticipated bout between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin.
Canelo will be looking to cement himself into the middleweight division with a win over the most dominant middleweight of the last decade and make himself some more well-earned coin while doing so. While Golovkin will be looking to avenge what he and his fans believe was a “robbery” that being his draw with Canelo in September last year and make himself some more well-earned coin for his retirement fund.
Make no mistake their last fight was close, but it was certainly no “robbery”. As an all-around boxing enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed the first fight, and although I gave Canelo the edge because of his ring smarts, I wouldn’t have whinged and complained had GGG been given that decision. Hence why I can live with the draw.
As goes with the ‘casual’ boxing fans though, the KO artist is always the pick of the bunch when it comes to giving decisions, sometimes even if at times they’ve been clearly beaten. ‘Casual’ fans are looking for the big knockouts, they’re looking for the blood.
They want to see their warrior triumphant at every turn, with winning the decision being the ‘get out’ clause for when people ask why their fighter didn’t win by the big KO. Sort of a shallow look at The Sweet Science I say.
The only thing bigger than this fight though is the build-up, with Canelo again attracting more controversy after testing positive to clenbuterol while in his training camp for the original May 5 rematch. With the Nevada State Athletic Commission putting it down to “meat contamination”, the decision was made to give Canelo a six-month ban, rather than the usual one year ban for first-time offenders.
I’m a little sceptical of it all.
On the other end of the controversy was the Golovkin camp, understandably seething. At 36 years old, Golovkin has fought and destroyed – for the most part – every man that’s been put in front of him. I say “for the most part” because I believe he was gifted the UD win against Daniel Jacobs.
As with the saying ‘no-one beats Mother Time’, I can’t see Golovkin being able to continue to back up training camp after training camp for these big fights. Has Mother Time caught up with him in the build-up to this fight? I suppose we might find out tomorrow.
I think this fight will be a little different to the first. I believe Golovkin is going to come out more aggressive than usual, throwing caution into the wind in an attempt to try and take the judges out of the equation. This approach may have the adverse effect on Golovkin though. Canelo is a very smart fighter with a very good chin. He is also one of the best counter-punchers in the business of boxing.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I see Canelo put a few on Golovkin if he gets too wild. I believe ring savvy will win out for Canelo again, but this time it’ll be clearer. I also believe that this will be the fight where Mother Time catches up with Gennady Golovkin, with him perhaps gassing down the stretch.
Regardless, I believe this will be another cracker of a fight however long it goes. Canelo to win by UD 116-112 for me.
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