Sunday night Moscow Time in Las Vegas will be the third fight between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez. All four Mexican super middleweight belts will be on the line. One and the second will occur for the first time in their head-to-head confrontation.
Both meetings between Alvarez and Golovkin have been in the middleweight division. Before recalling these battles, please pay attention to the dates. So, on September 16, 2017 in Las Vegas, the Kazakh was able to defend the WBA, WBC, IBF titles – their fight ended in a draw. And on September 15, 2018, in Las Vegas, Alvarez scored a majority decision victory and won the WBC and WBA belts from Golovkin. We will certainly remember the arbitration in these fights, but a little later.
On September 17, 2022 in Las Vegas (and for the third time at the T-Mobile Arena), Alvarez will defend the undisputed super middleweight title for the first time. For Golovkin, who currently holds the WBA and IBF middleweight belts, the upcoming fight will be his first in his new weight class.
Alvarez immediately vacated the middleweight belts after winning his second fight with Golovkin in 2018 and began collecting titles in other divisions. At the end of last year, Canelo managed to collect all the second-middleweight belts, while trying his hand at light heavyweight once – in November 2019, the Mexican knocked out Russian Sergey Kovalev and the left without a WBO belt. Canelo’s second trip to light heavyweight was undertaken in May this year, and another Russian champion, WBA (Super) belt holder Dmitry Bivol, was chosen as his opponent. But this time, Alvarez was defeated. He did not lose, that is to say, he was defeated in every way.
Canelo only suffered the second loss. For the first time in his busy career, this happened on September 14, 2013 in a duel with American Floyd Mayweather Jr. And now, when evaluating the chances of a trilogy of Alvarez and Golovkin, many wonder how the Mexican suffered the fiasco psychologically. After all, in April 2022, in the eyes of the whole world, Alvarez was the undisputed number one in all weight categories, a boxer with a powerful team, which today is a priori impossible to defeat. And now that cult is dispelled. How Alvarez will perform is really a question. But note that the professionalism of the Mexican cannot be denied.
At the same time, Golovkin in his last fight, to put it mildly, was unimpressed. In April in Japan, a Kazakh by ninth-round technical knockout defeated Japan’s Reta Murata in a middleweight unification bout. In the first round, Golovkin was completely different from himself and was on the verge of defeat. And in the end, despite the success of this meeting, we talked about age. Golovkin is 40 years old… But the boxer is still on top.
WHAT ABOUT THE JUDGES NOW?
Another argument in favor of Alvarez has always been and will be refereeing. If in the duel with Bivol and their help was not enough (although the judges still made the victory of the Russian not so devastating), it was the judges who prevailed in the first confrontations with Golovkin.
The author of this article, like most boxing experts, is confident in the victory of Golovkin in the first fight and agrees with the assessment of the only referee who gave the fight to Kazakhstan with a score of 118-110 (the second referee recorded a draw – 114-114, and the third – the victory of Alvarez with a score of 115-113). As for the second case, the fight turned out to be more or less equal, and here it would have been possible to put a draw, but only one judge took such a step. The rest with the same score of 115-113 determined Alvarez’s winner.
Now let’s talk about personalities. The third fight will be refereed by Dave Moretti, Steve Weisfeld and David Sutherland. The first two worked on the second meeting between Alvarez and Golovkin. And what do you think? Yes, these are the judges who gave the victory to Canelo. It should be noted that Weisfeld and Moretti served the fight between the Mexican and Bivol. The referee for the fight will be Russell Moru, who also worked during the encounter between Alvarez and Bivol.
With arbitration, everything is clear. Perhaps it is not necessary to draw conclusions from these statistics … And in general, many disputes about the chances of boxers in this confrontation, an analysis of the strengths of these great athletes come down to one thing: “Oh, Golovkin is 40!”
Thus, the author of this material follows the expressed logic, and also recalls his own impressions from the last meeting with the participation of a Kazakh … And now he predicts a quick victory for Alvarez. Although I would be happy to be wrong.
Naturally, on the eve of one of the most anticipated fights of 2022, turned to famous Russian boxers with a trilogy preview request. It should be noted right away that almost all of the respondents could not be 100% objective, because they unanimously declared: “We will root for Gennady”.
“I WOULD BE SURPRISED BY GOLOVKIN’S VICTORY”
“I think this fight got even more interesting after the loss to Alvarez.” So the man who inflicted this defeat on the Mexican began his analysis – the WBA champion (Super) Dmitry Bivol.
– One can guess whether Canelo has become less self-confident or, on the contrary, added to his motivation. Yeah, and Gennady definitely added some confidence after my fight with Alvarez. Not bad for Gennady and the fact that there will be a new category. It could be a plus. The only negative point – Gennady is not getting any younger – said Bivol in an interview with .
Former WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov honestly admitted that he would be surprised by Golovkin’s victory in the trilogy.
– Golovkin Peak has already passed. Yes, Alvarez lost in the last fight, but he will be in better shape. Plus, Alvarez has more to lose in this fight than his opponent. And I think Alvarez will take over here. If Golovkin wins, I will be surprised. So he will show his character, – said Ibragimov in a conversation with .
And the former owner of the WBC belt in the first heavyweight Grigori Drozd slightly different opinion:
– I have not read the analyzes of experts, it seems to me that Alvarez will be the favorite. But the Mexican now has psychological failures after Bivol. When you’re at the very top, you consider yourself the greatest, and then they smack you on the back of the head… It knocks you over. Therefore, what state Alvarez will be in is a question. I think Gene has a chance. I’m sure Golovkin will prepare superbly, he’s very disciplined. I think he saw Alvarez meet Bivol. We wish victory to Gennady.
– Since you remember the failure of Alvarez in the last fight, we must also recall the indescribable performance of Golovkin against Murata.
– Exactly. When I watched the first laps, I thought it would all be over soon. And not in favor of Gene. He missed a lot, he had a very, very difficult start. Then he swung and on lap five we saw our Gena Golovkin. But the beginning was terrible. I was amazed and didn’t understand how it happened. If there is a similar start with Alvarez, it will be very bad.
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Former WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Murat Gasiev to the last he will “drown” for his friend – Gassiev and Golovkin in the USA worked with the same coach Abel Sanchez
– I’m sure Gena will put an end to these conversations. I hope he will win. I will support Gena, we are in contact with him. The atmosphere in the team is excellent. Golovkin’s age? You remember the fight between George Foreman and Michael Moorer, when Foreman at the age of 45 won the heavyweight championship belt in a fight with a young opponent. They didn’t bet on Foreman at the time, but he knocked and the fight was over. Yes, in boxing, age takes its toll. But what matters is what you enter the ring with, what is in your heart, the faith that you have in yourself, in God. Gena is not that old, he is in great shape, he is in good condition. I don’t doubt him declared Gassiev.
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Former coach of the Poles Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Krzysztof Głowacki and Kamila Sheremeta (lost to Golovkin in December 2020) native of Arkhangelsk Fedor Rabbitnow living in the suburbs of Warsaw, noted on the flaws in Canelo’s actions.
– For me, two fights were for Golovkin. Admittedly, I don’t know why Golovkin started picking up the pace so late in the second fight. And now I will support Gennady, but I already consider Alvarez the favorite.
Although Canelo does not like recent fights – too passive, too cautious. There are not enough explosions, speed, fantasy that he had before. I think body shots will be a big deal, Gennady has had issues with that in recent fights. I would love to see Golovkin win, but for the first time in their trilogy, I call Alvarez a slight favorite.
– Favorite kid? Golovkin is 40 and Alvarez is 32 … Before my eyes is Kazakhstan’s last fight with Reto Murata, where Golovkin, to put it mildly, did not shine.
Yes, it was noticeable. But Gennady still has the timing, the precision, a straight left, the boxing smarts, the experience and a solid head. I think Alvarez won’t be as arrogant as Murata. Canelo will be more careful, he won’t run forward, but will work carefully, especially hitting the body. By the way, I admit that Alvarez can win sooner than expected. At the same time, I give chances to Golovkin.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
