By Miguel Maravilla
Following their highly anticipated showdown Saturday night, middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico and WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) of Kazakhstan met in the ring a second time, but not for a rematch. The two battled it out to a draw in front of sold out crowd of 22,358 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Golovkin and Alvarez spoke about their battle at the post-fight press conference.
“I am champion, this was the biggest fight in boxing. This is terrible, I am over it,” Gennady Golovkin said. “I saw the reaction, it’s terrible this is not fair.”
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez stated, “I am happy with what I saw tonight. The plan was to use the ring and the ropes we did exactly that. Lets put the scorecard aside we fought a great fight tonight. If people want a rematch. Why not?”
“He has power, a different power but not the power everyone was talking about. I wanted to knock him out.”
“I will rest now for the remainder of the year and be back next year in May or September. If people want a rematch we will do it but one thing is for sure. This is my era.”
Promoter Oscar de la Hoya commented, “It was a great fight and great event. That is what the fans loved so congratulations. I have to say Byrd is a competent judge but 118-110? I can understand 115-113, 114-114 either way. I saw Canelo win seven rounds to five. This is one of the best fights we have seen in recent years. These guys fought their heart out. Gennady is a great champion and Canelo is a great champion. I personally think boxing won. This is what boxing needed, a fight like this.”
When asked about the rematch clause de la Hoya replied, “Yes we do have a rematch clause and we intend to use it.”
GGG Promotions Tom Loeffler said, “There were a few close rounds. HBO had it wide for Gennady but it sets up a terrific rematch. We will sit with Oscar and Eric.”
Trainer Abel Sanchez stated, “I think the first few rounds were difficult for both guys. He ran the second part of the fight. As far as the judge, she needs to go back to school and learn how to judge a fight.”
The hottest topic of the night was the wide score of Judge Adalaide Byrd. Nevada State Athletic Commission Director Bob Bennett spoke to the media regarding judge Adelaide Byrd 118-110 score prior to the post fight press conference.
“Adelaide Byrd had a bad night. I think she is an outstanding judge. Like in any business you have a bad night, an off night. She saw the fight for Canelo obviously she was wider than the other judges. We will sit down talk it over and move on,” Bennett said.
“I don’t agree with that scorecard either. We will sit down with Tom to see what he wants,” Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions said.
Undercard Winners
Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, Jr. (24-0, 13 KOs) of South El Monte, California was victorious over undefeated late replacement Rafael “Big Bang” Rivera (25-1-2, 16 KOs) became the mandatory for WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr.
“It was a great atmosphere. We had a late replacement so we had to adapt to his style but we came out with the victory,”
“We will put force on Russell to fight him next. It was unfortunate that I didn’t fight Lara but we are ready to fight Gary Russell Jr.”
Super bantamweight Diego De La Hoya (20-0, 9 KOs) the cousin of Oscar De La Hoya, talked about his impressive win over former world champion Randy “El Matador” Caballero (24-1, 14 KOs).
“First of all I want to thank God for the victory. I told everyone I was going to win. I worked hard in the gym with my team to come out winning. I was happy to have beaten a former world champion. Now I will sit with my promoter to see where we go from here.”
Follow Miguel on Twitter @MigMaravilla