The highly anticipated middleweight title fight that ended in a draw included exciting back-and-fourth action from start to finish.
LAS VEGAS — The highly anticipated middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin turned out to be as good as advertised Saturday night before a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Arena. The fact that it ended in a draw was disappointing to the crowd, but it took nothing away from the fight, which was exciting back-and-forth action from start to finish.
Here are three keys to the spectacular 12-round affair:
1. Cutting off the ring: Golovkin, the middleweight champion from Kazakhstan, was masterful at keeping Alvarez moving backward, and fighting off the ropes throughout the fight. Golovkin might be the best in the sport at using that strategy, and it helped keep him as the aggressor much of the time.
2. Chins of stone: Both fighters connected with power punches on the other — head and body shots — that would have put any lesser fighters on the canvas. But Alvarez and Golovkin, both of whom have among the heaviest hands in the sport, have taken the shots of champions throughout their careers and never been dropped. That record still stands.
3. Superb conditioning: Golovkin and Alvarez appeared to be in tremendous shape during the week leading up to the fight, both had no trouble during the weigh-in and it showed Saturday night. They appeared as strong in the 12th round as they were in the first round. There was a point when Canelo appeared a bit gassed during the later rounds, but he got his second wind and some exhortation from his trainers and the pro-Canelo crowd. Golovkin at 35 is one of the hardest-working boxers in the sport and it showed in what at times was a brutal fight.
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