“I don’t feel like I’ve lost the war”
Saul Canelo Álvarez and Gennady Golovkin closed the book on an interesting and controversial trilogy over the weekend. Canelo won the 12th round convincingly – the final result was 2 wins for him, 0 for Golovkin and a draw.
Despite being accepted in the ring by the referee’s decision, Golovkin seemed to have a slight change of heart as a result of sinking in. During the post-match press conference, he said that he didn’t feel that he had lost the fight.
“I don’t feel like I’ve lost the game. I don’t think about the loss, it’s not what I think right now because it was a great fight and it was a very obvious one as noticed. We didn’t make any mistakes and the game was very competitive.
Especially the second half. I felt that I did better than my opponent.”
While punch stats don’t tell the whole story of a fight, it’s worth noting that Canelo landed 85 power punches compared to Golovkin’s 46, according to CompuBox. That was remarkable in the fight, with ‘Triple G’ having little success building his shot for the majority.
Golovkin actually had more of him in the second half, although arguably it wasn’t until the ninth that this really paid off for him. Álvarez, despite his opponent’s late rally, was not injured or troubled.
It kept things competitive but, in the minds of most fans, Canelo would have won if it had come to the judges.
When asked how Canelo could have improved compared to their previous matches and if the weight is noticeably higher, Golovkin didn’t see much.
“I don’t want to belittle his victory, but at the same time I don’t feel he is faster or stronger. The approach shots weren’t strong enough and in the second half he even lost [some] speed and power. “
The majority in boxing have the feeling that, in their previous fights, Golovkin has struggled when it comes to scorecards.
Ironically, the battle of the trio saw the game turn the tide. Fans and fighters both felt that the referees – especially the two 115-113 scorers – called the fight too close, believes that Canelo’s victory will be much more decisive.
Golovkin tackled the issue, possibly tired of the scorecard discussion because of what happened in 2017 and 2018.
“I don’t depend on talking about scoring goals. I just did my job and the judges gave those scores. It is their decision.”
‘Triple G’ plans to drop to middleweight where he will defend his unified title.