LAS VEGAS — Throwing heavy leather and showing unbending upper-body strength, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez staged a fight for the ages Saturday that the judges called a draw.
LAS VEGAS — Throwing heavy leather and showing unbending upper-body strength, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez staged a fight for the ages Saturday that the judges called a draw.
Golovkin (37-0-1) retains his World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation middleweight belts thanks to the scorecards — one judge had Alvarez winning 118-110, a second had it 115-113 for Golovkin, while the third had it 114-114 — and Alvarez (49-1-2) has a contractual right to a rematch because of the outcome.
“I want to thank my fans and of course I want the rematch,” Golovkin said. “This was a real fight. I still have the belts and I’m still champion.”
In a thrilling, back and forth barrage of blows — especially in the second half of the bout — the champion from Kazakhstan threw hammering blows that Alvarez weathered through the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds before 22,358 at T-Mobile Arena.
Instead of buckling like the 33 fighters who’ve been knocked out by the 35-year-old Golovkin, Alvarez, 27, dug deep and both out-boxed and out-powered Golovkin down the stretch.
In the 10th round, Alvarez struck Golovkin with such a thunderous right hand that the champion who had never been knocked down in 350 amateur fights and his entire pro career staggered backward to his left.
He found his footing and kept punching, just as Alvarez had done after occasionally getting cornered against the ropes and belted by Golovkin during the first half of the bout.
Following festive introductions with roars from the sellout crowd, Golovkin sought to unleash his power, but found in the second that Alvarez’s hand speed and elusiveness were superior.
The fifth round fulfilled the hopes of the action fight as each man delivered jarring head shots that caused the other to nod “no” to the pain. Golovkin also smiled off an uppercut as each threw heavy punches.
That started a run of hard, thrilling rounds that featured head-rattling, character-revealing moments that forced both the longtime champion Golovkin and former two-division belt-holder Alvarez to show why they’ve earned the metal.