By: Sean Crose
This kind of thing is hard to write because it inadvertently suggests that Canelo Alvarez is liable for every boxing referee who has ruled in his favor. And that’s not fair. Canelo, yes even in the days after the sound defeat to Dmitry Bivol, was a great fighter. He is brave, talented, skillful and fearless. It’s not his fault but it’s basically accepted all over the fighting world that judges give him preferential treatment. Again, this has nothing to do with Canelo himself, as Canelo did nothing wrong in judging his matches.
Now it looks like Canelo could slip midway through the ropes for a third time to face arch-rival Gennady Golovkin, however, it’s worth wondering if Golovkin has any chance, any chance of defeating the legend. red-haired phone on the scoreboard or not. After all, they’ve already met twice. The first time they fought to draw and the second time Canelo received the nod. Both decisions were controversial, especially the first, as most judges assumed that Canelo had a gift. Until fairly recently, it could be said that most felt the third fight would actually go down without controversy. Canelo was at his peak, controversy was more or less rife, and Golovkin was aged and barely active. However, since Canelo was defeated by Bivol a few weeks ago, things have changed – at least a little.
Now there will be those who will argue that Canelo failed, that he will be missing a step or two in his match. There will also be people who say ridiculously that the guy is overrated and always has been. Ultimately, there will be those who think Canelo is too flustered in his fight with Bivol to perform as well as he should when he faces Golovkin again (reported September). While Canelo has never, not for a second, been overrated, he may have lacked confidence when he met Golovkin after the loss to Bivol. Who knows? Maybe he can also prove he’s past his prime.
Is there any problem? If the world learned anything in their first two battles it was the fact that, when they were above, Canelo and Golovkin were essentially equal. Considering the fact that Bivol barely got the judges’ rating after dominating Canelo for most of 12 innings, how does Golovkin stand a chance? It can be doubted that either one will be knocked out or stopped in their third fight – though one never knows. While it is irresponsible to charge any judge with corruption without the support of some serious evidence, it is safe to assume that some of the top judges in boxing just simply love Canelo’s style. The problem is, they seem to love it too much. Maybe they know something we don’t – they’re paid professionals, after all.
However, if they are, perhaps they can enlighten us, as they don’t seem particularly good at their work at the moment.
