Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2: Did Canelo Deserve To Win? Was GGG Robbed?

In a highly anticipated rematch, Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) captured the unified middleweight world championship Saturday with a majority decision victory over Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The two boxing superstars had fought to a draw in 2017 and the second fight proved about as close as the first one. Judges Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld both scored the fight in favor of Alvarez, 115-113, while Glenn Feldman scored it 114-114.

None of the three judges scored any round a draw. Morretti and Weisfeld both gave Alvarez the 12th round, while Feldman gave the final round to Golovkin.

Did the official judges get it right? The fight, which had no knockdowns, was extremely close and many rounds potentially going either way.

CompuBox numbers seemed to support that Golovkin was the busier fighter. While Alvarez landed 33 percent of his punches compared to Golovkin's 27 percent, Alvarez landed fewer punches (202) than Golovkin (234). Golovkin also landed more punches than Alvarez in eight of the 12 rounds.

A look at how sportswriters and sports publications called the fight might paint a better picture.

HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman scored the fight for Golovkin, 116-112. Josh Peter of USA Today scored the fight 115-113 for Golovkin. Dan Rafael of ESPN and Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times scored it 114-114.

International Business Times scored the fight in favor of Golovkin, 115-113.

In ESPN's post-fight coverage, pundit Stephen A. Smith said he had Golovkin winning the fight "but it was close," with a scorecard of 115-114. Animated former trainer Teddy Atlas was more adamant that Golovkin won, giving the Kazakh a 117-112 score. Atlas called the ringside judges' scorecards a "robbery."

A reason some may have given Golovkin the edge could be due to the 36-year-old throwing more jabs and power punches to the head than Alvarez. But the Mexican star had the overwhelming advantage in body punches, 46-6. Such a disparity might be a reason to believe that Alvarez was the more effective power puncher.

While there seemed to be fewer supporters of Alvarez winning the fight, there was also a sense of relief that there were no controversies. The scorecards indicated a very close fight, which was the consensus opinion.

"We had a great fight — the one we expected the first time around," Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, said after the fight. "I had it close going into the 12th round. We had good judges who saw it from different angles. I can’t complain about the decision but it’s close enough to warrant a third fight."