Canelo defeats Golovkin in the trilogy

Youth proved decisive in the third encounter between Saul Canelo Alvarez aged 32 (58-2-2, 39 KO`s) and Gennady GGG Golovkin aged 40 (42-2-1, 37 KO`s) at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Canelo winning a UD 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, retaining his undisputed super-middleweight championship, and lifting aloft the magnificent Guerrero Jaguar Zapoteca Belt.

After thirty-six highly competitive rounds in which neither man buckled or went down once, finally all the pre-fight bile and irritation dissolved. When the final bell rang both hugged for quite a while and spoke admiringly to each other. You can`t share a boxing ring for that amount of time, without building a bond of respect which will last forever.

Canelo`s KO ratio is sixty four percent and Golovkin`s is 84 percent, but age was always going to be the significant factor. Gennady relied on his left jab and his boxing smarts, but his extraordinary power, attacking blitz and the fleetness of foot were gone. For the first two rounds Gennady cautiously measured Canelo with a steady left jabs. In round two Canelo landed a stiffer left jab and a right to the head, then missing with swat, which caused a breeze bordering on a squall.

Canelo upped the pace appreciably in the third going for the body and then connecting to the head with a big counter left. Then he unleashed a stinging left right combination to the head. Gennady`s forehead already sported a red welt and his cheeks were rosy red, starting to puff. Golovkin was being caught with left counters, but still only conservatively using his right. Towards the end of the fifth a left set up Golovkin and a huge right to he forehead appeared to shake him.

At the halfway point Golovkin was using his jab but it lacked pep, while Canelo was hunting him down to inflict hurt. Suddenly a sharp right to the head from Golovkin, but there was a price to pay as he got a counter left to the body, but then a crisp right uppercut from Golovkin which he failed to follow up.

Heavy exchanges in the ninth, which was the best round of the fight. Combinations to the head from Canelo and a big right uppercut, with Golovkin responding, in a space which would have made a telephone booth cavernous. The offense continued in round ten and then a clash of heads just before the bell. A tap of gloves in mutual respect in round eleven, which was the prelude to both opening up. A booming right uppercut from Canelo found the mark, answered by jabs and combinations from Golovkin. A grandstand finish, but several clinches as both had expended a lot, in a more strategic fight than their first two battles. Gennady went over to Chepo and Eddy Reynoso and they congratulated him on a very decent effort. Yet no one beats Father Time.