On Saturday, September 16, 2017, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin squared off in a 12-round battle or Middleweight supremacy.
Canelo and Golovkin battled to a disputed draw.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin, 12 rounds
Round 1
Canelo begins the fight on his bicycle circling around the ring as Golovkin patiently stalks. Golovkin probing with the jab but not all that assertive.
Feeling out process but this pace favors Canelo. With about 20 seconds left in the round, Canelo gets confident and fires off his best combination.
Round 2
Golovkin continues walking Canelo down as the crowd exchanges chants for their favorite fighter.
Both men pretty tense as they each begin to fire hard punches behind meaningful jabs.
Canelo getting more clean punches off in combination, Golovkin continuously coming forward but not letting his hands go all that much in combination.
Round 3
Canelo begins to stand his ground more in the middle of the ring. Canelo cracks GGG with strong uppercut, his best punch of the round and probably of the fight.
Golovkin gets in a strong left hook upstairs as the round ends.
Round 4
In Round 4 Canelo starts to do what everyone said he wouldn’t do–sit against the dopes. But instead of unloading, Golovkin was awkwardly patient.
Canelo seemingly getting more confidence as he’s taken GGG’s artillery thus far.
One thing to note is that Canelo is moving alot, it could catch up with him down the stretch in the stamina department.
Round 5
Again, in Round 5 Canelo opts to hang out on the ropes for a good stretch. Golovkin cannot take advantage.
Best round of the fight as both men land punishing blows on one another as the crowd goes crazy.
At one point, Golovkin lands a thudding right on Canelo that would flatten most men, the Mexican simply shakes it off.
The fight beings to resemble what everyone wants. A firefight.
Round 6
Golovkin begins landing hard right hands. Canelo not moving as much looking to pick stops and counterpunches more carefully.
Canelo playing to the crowd as he hits GGG with a behind the back punch on the break.
Very close rounds but Golovkin and company have to know that Canelo will be getting the benefit of the doubt.
GGG has to turn up his punch output.
Round 7
Canelo continues hanging out on the ropes, mixing in shots to the body. Golovkin a few inches off on his biggest shots.
Not sure that GGG is getting the benefit of the doubt for continually stalking Canelo. He needs to put more combination punches together.
Round 8
Canelo throwing lunging shots during the first half of the round, hitting nothing but air. He’s visibly tired, taking steps back with his mouth open.
Canelo cracks GGG with a big right uppercut, Golovkin smiles and comes forward but can’t get anything in return.
Round 9
Canelo taking too many risks in Round 9 and paying for them. Electing to sit on the inside with Golovkin. Canelo, seemingly out of nowhere, connects with a huge right hand but GGG takes it and keeps coming forward looking to trap Canelo on the ropes.
No more hop in Canelo’s step as he is picking his shots a lot more carefully.
Round 10
Golovkin eating huge shots from Canelo in Round 10, looks to be momentarily wobbly but maybe a slip as he continues coming forward.
Canelo doing a lot backpedaling during the middle part of the round, but GGG’s connects are few and far between during those periods.
Round 11
Pattern remains the same, Canelo backing up as he tries to find energy for about half the round to mount an attack.
GGG has been relentlessly coming forward.
Round 12
Canelo coming out on fire in Round 12, lands a ton of big shots through the first half of the round, but then GGG has his turn.
Canelo, with his hands held at his waist, ducks and dodges with some success. The two men trade big shots as the final bell rings.
DECISION: DRAW – Scores were 118-110 for Canelo, 115-113 for GGG and 114-114
Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Rafael Rivera, 12 rounds
Joseph Diaz defeats late replacement Rafael Rivera by unanimous decision with scores of 119-109 twice 120-108.
Randy Caballero vs. Diego De La Hoya, 10 rounds
Randy Caballero got beat to the punch continuously throughout Rounds 1 and 2 as Diego De La Hoya clocked him with left hand leads.
The fight was rough and tough and never really swung Caballero’s way.
De La Hoya official won by unanimous decision with scores of 100-90 and 98-92 twice.
Ryan Martin vs. Francisco Rojo, 10 rounds
Ryan Martin got his first stiff test as a professional as Francisco Rojo brought the pain for 10 hard rounds.
Martin earned a controversial decision, even after losing a point for low blows.
Scores were 96-93 for Martin, 98-91 for Rojo and 95-94 for Martin.
Vergil Ortiz vs. Cesar Valenzuela, 6 rounds
Vergil Ortiz came out firing bombs from the opening bell and stopped Cesar Valenzuela in Round 2 after a pair of knockdowns.
Ortiz is now 7-0, 7 KOs.
Marlen Esparza vs. Tania Cosme, 6 rounds
After six rounds, Marlen Esparza remains undefeated with scores of 60-54 three times.
“Even though my opponent, on paper, looked like she had more ring experience, I’ve been in the ring way more than she had. Because I had 3 minute rounds, I was able to think a lot more in the ring and was even told by my trainer I had to slow down. I couldn’t research much about my opponent, but we knew she was going to be throwing her right often. I’m satisfied with my performance because this was my first 6-round fight,” said Esparza.
Serhii Bohachuk vs. TBA, 4 rounds
Abel Sanchez understudy, Serhii Bohachuk defeats Joan Valenzuela via second-round TKO to move to 5-0, 5 KOs.
“He was a good opponent, I’m happy I won. It was a tough fight, but I kept working at it and came out on top.”
ALL PHOTOS BY JULIO SANCHEZ/RBRBOXING
