T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 17
TV: DAZN Pay-Per-View
By Peter Lim
Golovkin quickly establishes his jab allowing him to dictate the tempo and action in the early rounds. When Canelo closes the distance, Golovkin steals a page from Dimitri Bivol's playbook, keeps his gloves high, chin tucked and waits for Canelo to open fire before counter punching the vaunted counter puncher.
But as Golovkin picks up forward momentum, his jab output decreases in lieu of more power punches some of which are met with accurate counters from Canelo. While Golovkin appears to be the harder puncher, Canelo is landing the cleaner blows in the exchanges.
Somewhere around the midway point of the fight, Golovkin misses a right hand and Canelo immediately responds by sinking a left hook into Golovkin's flank while Golovkin is overextended. The well-placed, perfectly-timed body shot folds Golovkin at the waist but he manages to stay on his feet and force a prolonged clinch, denying Canelo a follow-up assault. He makes it to the end of the round on survival mode.
It is the wake-up call Golovkin needs to return to his original game plan. He reestablishes his jab to keep Canelo at bay for the next couple of rounds as he shakes of the debilitating effects of the liver shot. Canelo presses the action and finds a measure of success with his own jab but is kept out of range for another devastating body punch.
Golovkin gradually finds his second wind, keeps the jab in Canelo's face and forces Canelo to fight on his terms. This time around, he remains disciplined and refrains from any reckless attacks. For the first time in three fights, Golovkin goes to the body with regularity and steps aside before Canelo can return fire. Canelo doggedly presses forward with sporadic success but Golovkin stubbornly refuses to fight his fight and continues to jolt Canelo with his stiff jab until the final bell is rung.
But once again, at the end of 12 rounds Golovkin is denied the victory he deserves by the cinnamon-centric judges who inexplicable score the fight for Canelo by split decision.
