By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
Another one of boxing’s highly anticipated megafight ended in controversy once more after the judges scored the bout a stunning split draw at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Two judges scored it 118-110 for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and 115-113 for Gennady Golovkin, and the other had it a 114-114 draw.
Both fighters will retain their belts.
Golovkin remains the WBC-WBA-WBO-IBO unified champion while Alvarez retains his Ring Magazine middleweight belt.
The fans and sports media were shocked after the decision was announced.
The 22,358-strong soldout crowd erupted in boos especially after hearing that one of the judges, Adelaide Byrd, scored the bout a highly questionable 118-110 for Alvarez.
Most reporters and boxing experts scored it 115-113 for Golovkin with a significant few scoring it at least a 114-114 draw.
The bout started slow, with both fighters sizing up one another and looking for range.
Alvarez was the more active fighter early, scoring on multiple combinations and pinning the action at the middle of the ring.
Golovkin was tentative and stiff in the first few rounds, getting tagged by crisp jabs and solid uppercuts by Alvarez.
But at the start of the 5th round, the fierce Golovkin finally emerged and picked up the pace, stalking the suddenly weary Alvarez and connecting with solid right crosses.
The Kazakh brilliantly cut off the ring, pinning Alvarez multiple times against the ropes.
The Mexican would counter with brilliant boxing though, backing up multiple times but able to counter the pressure from Golovkin.
Both fighters gave the bout most people wanted to see, and worth the $70 PPV fee.
Though there were no knockdowns, there was a lot of back and forth action and it was obvious no one would be complaining.
But the brilliant boxing display people saw in this fight was overshadowed by again another controversial decision by the judges which has plagued the sport of boxing.
There was an almost unanimous impression from boxing experts and pundits that Golovkin won by a small margin or at least a draw.
Already, there are growing calls to exclude Byrd from judging future bouts.
Alvarez has a rematch clause on his side of the contract for this match.
Given the controversial outcome of the bout, it is widely expected that he will exercise his option.
With the draw, Golovkin will maintain his undefeated record of 37 wins, 33 via KO and a draw.
Alvarez meanwhile goes to 49-1-1 with 34 KO’s, his lone defeat still from Floyd Mayweather Jr.
