The biggest fight of the year is now finally here, and the two combatants Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2) and Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1) are beyond ready to hear the sound of the bell for the 13th round.
Their first encounter took place exactly a year ago at the same location and the Live crowd were up on their feet as both Canelo and Triple G exchanged blows for most of the 12 rounds.
But at the conclusion of it all, as Michael Buffer read the final scorecard, the fight fans at the T-Mobile Arena and worldwide screamed in an uproar as each fan made their case as to why they felt that their fighter won.
So here we are today, September 15 is just now a few sleeps away. So with their first fight scored a draw, fight fans, promoters of the fight, the fighters trainers, and ESPECIALLY Canelo and Golovkin, all want closure to end all this back and forth talk as this time just one name(fingers crossed) gets announced as the best middleweight in the world.
On to my pick.
Watching the first fight from my media seat, I too scored it a draw. I then watched it again from my couch a few days later and still felt that a strong case could be made for either fighter. Thinking about it now, I saw Canelos hand speed as making Golovkin look extremely slow in the first few rounds.
It seemed that early on Golovkin was simply content with making any type of contact with his jab being his primary weapon. It wasn’t until Golovkin began to cut the ring off in half that Golovkin then began to find success with his short compact hooks.
For the rematch, Golovkin must continue to employ his hard jab, cut the ring off, and most importantly, Golovkin must attack Canelo to the body.
On the flipside, Canelo needs to also work the body, double up on his jab, use lateral movement, and must not look to steal breaths while leaning on the ropes.
In a shootout, Canelo will beat Golovkin to the punch each and every time. So in Golovkin realizing this, Golovkin must punch with his younger much faster foe to catch Canelo with a flush ice cold right hook shot.
Canelo will need to stay poised and patience must be present when heavy pressure approaches. If Canelo uses his hard feints, he could bait Golovkin into reaching and time Golovkin with a vicious right uppercut.
I’m taking Canelo to beat Golovkin in a nail biting close 115-113 split decision. Styles make fights and these two great fighters style compliments each other very well. I strongly believe that Canelo/GGG can fight 10 times and I am sure that all 10 fights would be close.
But this time around, I just feel that Canelo will be even faster this time out than he was in the first clash, and beating a much slower Golovkin to the punch will leave a lasting impression on the judges. Only Golovkin mercifully butchering Canelos body at will would change that. So buckle up fight fans and prepare yourselves for another classic.