The undefeated middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin does not plan to fight again against the Mexican Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, although he will give it a rematch after last night at the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, they starred in a fight that ended with null combat verdict and a new scandal within the sport of boxing.
After having clearly won the fight agreed to 12 rounds, Judge Adalaide Byrd, who was part of the panel of three that worked on the fight, saw the opposite or did not see anything because she gave Álvarez the winner in 10 of the 12 rounds for a score of 118-110.
His actions were the ones that immediately generated the controversy and created all the doubts about the strangeness of the verdict, which threw down the great fight that both fighters had starred in the ring before a full of 22,358 spectators who occupied the T-Mobile seats Arena, compared to 14,464 who 14 days earlier had gone to see Floyd Mayweather junior against Conor McGregor.
Regardless of the verdict, the representatives of Golovkin and Álvarez have already begun to work on the future of both fighters and although officially the team of the champion Kakazo have not yet said anything, if they will accept the rematch fight, but not in the short term.
Abel Sánchez, Golovkin’s physical trainer and henchman, acknowledged that his pupil had made a great preparation for the fight against “Canelo” and then on the ring he was the “only one” who boxed all the time.
“During the 12 rounds, the important physical wear was on Golovkin, while Álvarez dedicated himself to running much more than we thought,” said Sánchez when analyzing the fight and arguing that it is necessary for his pupil to have several months off. “The end of the year is very close.”
But he also said that there was no problem in the rematch fight against Álvarez because the world champion with the titles of the International Federation of Boxing (IBF), World Association (WBA) and World Council (WBC) remain in Golovkin’s possession.
“We are ready for the rematch fight if they wish, but this time it will be under our rules,” said Sánchez. “We knew we were getting to a war and regardless of the fact that we had judges who went to different schools and one was blind, in the end we triumphed.”
Sánchez’s assessment hinted that his pupil will make at least one more fight before facing Álvarez again and the most suitable date for this new duel would be next May, when the traditional festivities will take place again in the United States. that commemorate the Battle of Puebla.
Among the fight options that Golovkin, 35, can make before the rematch, could be the fight against Englishman Billy Joe Saunders, seven years younger than the Kazakh champion, who is in power of the middleweight title, Organization version World of Boxing (OMB).
The unification duel would be interesting, but it would not come this year either, something that Saunders himself recognized when on Saturday he also defended the title against Willie Monroe Jr.
The English fighter said that he is interested in a fight against Golovkin, but that if it does not materialize, then he will expose his championship in December against some other rival.
“I don’t think they will be ready for December,” acknowledged Saunders, who is also undefeated with a 25-0 record and 12 wins by knockout.
Golovkin, right after the fight against Álvarez, also said he planned to rest, enjoy the birth of his second daughter, and then continue preparing to stay competitive and ready to beat his next opponent.
The undefeated champion is aware that the fight he starred against Álvarez has made him much more commercial and now any fight that stars in the stock market will once again be a millionaire and surely higher than the three million guaranteed he had to face «Canelo».
While the Mexican fighter will also have to assess with the promoter Óscar De La Hoya in charge of his businesses what will be the next step he will take in his ascending career, although what happened in Las Vegas did not help him in the end to clear the doubts that continue to weigh on his boxing development.