Outside of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight that happened last month, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin is the biggest boxing match of the year. The two will square off at middleweight, and Golovkin will put up his WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and IBO belts on the line, while Alvarez tries to add to his middleweight belt that comes from The Ring.
Canelo Alvarez
Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KO) looked excellent in a 12-round domination of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., which took place back in December. Truth be told, Alvarez has looked very good since losing to Mayweather back in September 2013 in a fight where Alvarez clearly learned a few lessons. He has become a better boxer in terms of movement and punch accuracy, but he still has the power to knock someone out as Amir Khan and Liam Smith will tell you. Alvarez has a lot to prove in this fight as well as he gave up the WBC middleweight belt to Golovkin in May 2016 and there were (still are, actually) many that said he was ducking Golovkin. He’ll want to put that to rest on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Gennady Golovkin
Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO) is better known as GGG (his middle name is Gennadyevich), and he has dominated the middleweight division after winning silver at the 2004 Olympic Games. While he is known for his knockout power, Golokvin showed he could go 12 rounds with a tough opponent as he outpointed Daniel Jacobs in March of this year. There are even some that said he got the win because a the end, he would get to fight Alvarez in a big-money prizefight. However, that is an insult to GGG’s ring control and his smarts, and he did knock down Jacobs once. Considering that it was the first time that he had ever went 12 rounds, GGG didn’t look as tired as you’d expect down the stretch. This fight is also huge for Golovkin as Alvarez is a bigger name in mainstream sports than he is; a win for GGG would be a boost to his brand.
Outlook
GGG is the favorite at -155 while Alvarez comes in at +135 in what could be the fight of the year, and GGG is the bigger man at 5’10”, an inch taller than Alvarez. GGG also has a three-inch reach advantage, but Alvarez is 27 years old to 35 for GGG, and Alvarez has plenty of experience with 51 pro fights to 37 for GGG (although he has his Olympic background). It is going to be interesting to see how Alvarez takes GGG’s first power punch because we’ve never really seen him hit like that, and he can’t stand in front of GGG. If this fight ends in a knockout, that means Golovkin probably won it and if it goes 12 rounds, Alvarez probably takes it as this is going to be a fascinating matchups between two of the pound-for-pound best in the world.
If you’re looking for the boxing betting lines for this fight, Shangri La has the latest odds for the Golovkin-Alvarez fight.
