A look at Canelo Alvarez’s career-defining moments

Canelo Alvarez vs Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin I (September 16, 2017)

This fight was the most anticipated boxing match since Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 years prior. Canelo and Golovkin were on a collision course, clearing out all fighters in front of them, and making fans eager to see the two share a ring.

It had the makings of an instant classic, with both fighter’s strength’s playing into each other’s. Golovkin has a straightforward, aggressive style, where he looks best against a fighter who does not move much latterly.

Canelo, on the other hand, developed into an elite counter puncher who preferred to stand still and let his opponent come to him. See why fans had butterflies just thinking of these two fighting?

Unfortunately, the fight was not quite an instant classic, but it was still a very good fight. It was fought at a very high level, with both men landing punches that would have knocked out any other fighter in the division. The tension was high throughout, and showed why these two men were both among the top ten fighters, pound-for-pound.

As the final bell rang, most observers (myself included) thought GGG did enough to earn a close decision (I scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Golovkin), but all fans acknowledged it was a good, competitive fight.

However, judge Adalaide Byrd apparently decided to not watch a second of the fight, as she scored the bout 118-110 in favor of Canelo. It was a truly outrageous score, and resulted in the fight being ruled a split draw. Most fans feel a draw was not a terrible outcome, as the fight was close, but nobody on earth could defend that horrible score.

It was truly a black eye for the sport, and while not Canelo’s fault, it hurt his image to many boxing fans, they did not want to see a fighter get special treatment, and took it out on him instead of Byrd.