Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin completed their fight trilogy Saturday night after years of waiting and anticipation. The fight left most fans, and even those covering the battle inside the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, underwhelmed. This was another example of a fight left on the shelf a few years past its expiration date.
Let’s be honest here for a minute. Both fighters are well-respected and have had phenomenal careers, but this was a bit of a snooze fest. Alvarez and Golovkin should be congratulated for the overall trilogy and theater they’ve provided over such a long period. But it seems not too many people are making their true feelings felt regarding this fight.
Well, no one besides Oscar De La Hoya. He hopped on Twitter early Sunday morning and gave his perspective of the fight.
“The truth is everyone is afraid of speaking the truth, the fight was a fucken dud. GGG was old ass fuck, and Canelo can’t hold Hopkins jockstrap.”
De La Hoya isn’t wrong about the fight boxing fans witnessed Saturday night. GGG looked every bit of 40 years old in that ring. Both fighters were tentative early on, almost as if they’d never been in the ring together. That can be excused, because it had been four years since their last fight against each other in September of 2018.
During that span, Canelo has grown leaps and bounds and entered his absolute peak prime years as a fighter. Golovkin was at his peak during the first two bouts, one of which was a draw, the other a split decision that went to Canelo. On Saturday night, Golovkin was clearly a boxer fighting way past his prime.
In the third bout, neither guy looked great, but it’s safe to say GGG is long past his prime. The bottom line here is this third fight happened far too late for it to leave fans satisfied. At a certain point, it looked and felt like Golovkin was fighting not to get knocked out and take it the distance. He was successful in that regard, as it went to a judge’s decision, which Alvarez won unanimously.
This isn’t nearly the first-time boxing fans waited for what should’ve been a megafight only to get what De La Hoya called a “fucken dud.” In 2015, we finally got Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao after years of talk and speculation. That fight also went 12 rounds, with Mayweather taking a unanimous decision.
Heavyweight boxing fans got another long-awaited match in 2002 that had been talked about for almost a decade. Mike Tyson finally squared off against Lennox Lewis in June of 2002. Lewis ended the former baddest man on the planet with a knockout in the eighth round. That was another dream bout that happened far too late, and the evidence was in the product.
Immediately following his loss to Canelo Saturday night, Golovkin claimed he wasn’t done fighting. He wants to go out on his terms, fighting when and where he wants to end his career.
Golovkin exhibited the heart of a champion, but after this fight, it doesn’t seem like he’s got too much left in the tank. He’ll likely hold on a while longer, fighting once, maybe twice per year as he’s been doing. But this was probably the last big stage elite fight we’ll see GGG take part in. It was a great run, but all good things must come to an end.
It’d be nice if boxing could figure out a way to get out of its own way and make these big prize fights happen while both fighters are still relevant.
On behalf of all boxing fans everywhere, I’m begging those involved…. please don’t screw up this “potential” megafight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. We’ve waited long enough, and it needs to happen ASAP. Make it happen while fans and the participants still care enough and can put on an amazing match.