Painful win for Alvarez

LAS VEGAS - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez brought an end to his bitter rivalry with Gennady Golovkin on Saturday, after he won their trilogy fight on a unanimous decision to retain the undisputed super middleweight world title in Las Vegas, despite a "really bad" injury that requires surgery.

It was one of the closest rivalries in boxing, one marked by discord and controversial judging decisions because, over two fights and 24 rounds, there was little that separated them.

Was, that is, because in their third fight at T-Mobile Arena in five years, the Mexican fighter definitively outclassed Golovkin in front of an adoring crowd to retain his titles, and regain a bit of menace after suffering just the second loss of his professional career in May.

"I have shown that defeats are great, because they allow you to come back and show humility," Alvarez said, while wearing a crown on his head, after the fight.

Alvarez (58-2-2) won the fight by unanimous decision, with much of the drama drained from the bout early on - although two of the judges said that the Kazakh had lost only by one round.

Perhaps the only real consolation for Golovkin was that he lasted all 12 rounds; Alvarez repeatedly boasted in the run-up to the fight that he would end it early.

Golovkin started the fight slowly, testing Alvarez with his left jab but rarely doing damage with it. Alvarez damaged Golovkin's temple early, and generally seemed content to counter with flurries while occasionally swinging wildly for the knockout punch he had promised but which never came.

The 32-year-old champion said he had torn the cartilage in the wrist of his left hand coming into the fight and admitted the pain it caused him was "really bad", adding: "I can't hold a glass. But I'm a warrior."

He added: "It hurts everywhere. I had these issues since the Caleb Plant fight. I was like it's OK, it's OK, later, later, then it started (to get) really bad. I need surgery.

"With my hand problems I outjabbed the best jabber in the world... I think towards the end of the fight I obviously started to get a bit fatigued and that's because we've not been able to work explosively in the gym...

"I wanted to get that KO but it didn't come because he's a great fighter."

Finally, after eight rounds and 24 staid minutes, a fight broke out in the ninth round. Golovkin threw caution to the wind and repeatedly advanced on Alvarez, switching up his jab-only style for a more varied attack.

In the 11th round he finally landed enough hooks to open up a cut on Alvarez's right eye. But the offensive barrage came at a price, and Golovkin received almost as badly as he gave. It was also too late.

The judges scored the contest 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, seemingly giving the Kazakh the last four rounds in generous fashion.

Golovkin, 40, has said that he will not retire after this fight. He looked a step slow, however, and very unlike the fighter who captivated fans with his relentless forward-moving style.

"Remember I have three belts at 160 (72.6kg)," he said when questioned about his future. "I can still fight, guys...

"Everybody knows who is Canelo, everybody knows a bad step, you lose the fight... This fight was more tactical, like chess. Today Canelo was better."

The fight was a nice bounce-back win for Alvarez, who lost to Dmitry Bivol in a light heavyweight match-up earlier this year.

But while he outfought Golovkin (42-2-1), he was not back to his show-stopping best. He will need to be better if he is to defeat the Russian in a potential rematch.

Alvarez has his sights set on revenge against Bivol but he wants to ensure he has recovered fully from his encounter with Golovkin and has undergone surgery before finalising a second fight with the 31-year-old, who has a perfect 20 wins (11 KOs).

NYTIMES, REUTERS