Canelo Alvarez stands tall in victory over Gennady Golovkin

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) will go down as one of boxing’s most storied rivalries when it’s all said and done and after tonight both men shared a warm embrace and respect for each other as both fighters left it all in the ring. When the smoke cleared Alvarez retained his undisputed super middleweight championship with a unanimous-decision victory over his rival. Two judges scored it 115-113, while a third judge turned in a 116-112 tally for Alvarez.

The fight from the early start favored Canelo’s pace as he was the more active and busier fighter. GGG seemed awfully tentative to land any shots or throw shots. GGG's famous right jab was a no go tonight as he hardly ever landed it. The close score cards were shocking too many as GGG didn’t really show any signs of life until the latter part of the fight. Throughout the broadcast the point kept being reiterated that GGG was 40 years old, and he looked a step slower. According to GGG the reason for this was his respect for Canelo. “Everybody knows this is a high-level class for boxing,” Golovkin said post-fight. “Everybody knows this is Canelo. You miss one punch; he can finish the fight. Look at his face, look at my face. We trained well and this shows that we had a very good fight as a result of it.” As for Canelo he had promised all week he was going to knock GGG out however that did not happen. Canelo had announced post-fight that he had been fighting with a broken hand, so it was hard to land or throw the broken hand. The good news for Canelo is he bounced back from WBA light heavyweight title fight loss to Dmitry Bivol this past May. Canelo was asked if he is seeking a rematch with Bivol and while he said it’s the fight he wants, he added that he needs time to rest and address an injury to his left hand. Bivol is currently scheduled to defend his title against Gilberto Ramirez on Nov. 5.