Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin 3 fight results, highlights: Mexican star earns decision to close trilogy

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After controversial scorecards overshadowed their first two meetings, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin met for a third time on Saturday night in Las Vegas. This time around, Alvarez left little debate that he was the better fighter, though the scorecards may have reflected a closer fight than actually took place. With the unanimous decision win, Alvarez remains the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world.

Alvarez dominated the fight with defense and a strong combination of wide overhand rights, jabs and left hooks. Golovkin spent the first eight rounds working behind a largely ineffective jab, seemingly digging himself a deep hole on the scorecards. In the first two rounds, Golovkin had only landed two of 32 total jabs.

Things didn't get much better for Golovkin as the rounds ticked by. Alvarez would land jabs and hooks while Golovkin would chase and miss with the majority of his punches.

It was a far less competitive fight than their September 2017 meeting, which was ruled a split draw, or their September 2018 meeting, which Alvarez took by majority decision.  

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It was somewhat shocking that Alvarez failed to work to the body with any regularity. Golovkin, 40, had shown a vulnerability to body shots in his recent fights and Alvarez has one of the best left hands to the body in the sport. Still, Alvarez did not need to key in on Golovkin's ribs as his very basic strategy had worked well.

While Alvarez had promised a knockout, he never needed to shift to a higher gear to shoot for the finish, instead working over Golovkin with simple and crisp boxing.

Despite seemingly having earned a wide decision win, the scorecards were controversial for the third straight meeting between the two. Alvarez took the deserved decision victory, but by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113. CBS Sports scored the fight 118-110 for Alvarez.

"He's a really good fighter," Alvarez said after the fight. "He's strong. He's a great fighter and that's why we're here. I'm glad to share the ring with him. I'm going to keep forward to keep my legacy strong."

Alvarez then suggested that he was committed to a fight with the winner of the fight between WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramírez on Nov. 5. Alvarez lost to Bivol in May, the first loss for "Canelo" since September 2013. Rather than immediately seek to enact his rematch clause, Alvarez instead chose to settle his rivalry with Golovkin in a fight many observers felt was coming at least three years after its expiration date.

Before he seeks revenge -- and a second light heavyweight world title -- Alvarez said he needs time to rest and heal his body as well as undergo surgery on his left hand. The fight with Golovkin was Alvarez's ninth in the past four years.

The loss was only the second of Golovkin's career. He still holds the IBF and WBA middleweight titles and said after the fight that he would return to 160 pounds for his next, brushing off any suggestion he would retire after the trilogy fight with Alvarez.

"Everybody knows, this is high-level class. This is the best fighter in boxing. Everyone knows who is Canelo. It's a huge fight. Look at his face, look at my face. We trained well, and this shows that we did a very good-quality fight.

"This fight is more tactical. Today, Canelo is better. Congrats to Canelo."

The undercard saw Jesse Rodriguez retain his WBC super flyweight title by decision over Israel Gonzalez, though it was not as clear cut as the pre-fight odds would have suggested. Plus, Ali Akhmedov made easy work of veteran Gabriel Rosado to earn a decision win. And Austin Williams thrashed Kieron Conway en route to a decision win of his own.

CBS Sports was with you throughout the night in Las Vegas, so be sure to follow along with the live results and highlights below. 

Alvarez vs. Golovkin 3 fight card, results

  • Canelo Alvarez (c) def. Gennadiy Golovkin via unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 115-113)
  • Jesse Rodriguez (c) def. Israel Gonzalez via unanimous decision (118-109, 117-110, 114-113)
  • Ali Akhmedov def. Gabriel Rosado via unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 100-90)
  • Austin Williams def. Kieron Conway via unanimous decision (96-93, 97-92, 97-92) 

Alvarez vs. Golovkin 3 scorecard

Scoring by Brian Campbell

Round123456789101112Total
Alvarez (c)1010101010101010109109118
Golovkin99999999910910110
Updates
(119)
 
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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 12: Alvarez landed some solid hooks and an uppercut as Golovkin continued to try and amp up his output. Again, however, Golovkin did not let much go aside from jabs, not throwing strikes that were likely to dig him out of the deep hole he'd dug in the early rounds. Alvarez landed a crisp 1-2 to Golovkin's chin and the crowd again booed down the stretch, having seen a fight without the drama of the first too meetings. Alvarez was simply too good and Golovkin didn't do enough to make a case he deserved the victory. This should be academic as we hit the scorecards.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 12 -- 10-9 Golovkin (118-110 overall)

September 18, 2022, 4:33 AM
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Official result: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez def. Gannadiy Golovkin via unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 115-113) to retain the undisputed super middleweight championship. Those were some wildly close scorecards considering that Alvarez clearly dominated that fight.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 11 -- 10-9 Alvarez (109-100 overall)

September 18, 2022, 4:28 AM
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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 11: Golovkin looked to continue working his jab, having shown a good amount of fire building. Alvarez looked to slip and land the jab before opening up the uppercut. Golovkin's jab opened a cut over Alvarez's eye. Golovkin continued to fire jab after jab, now connecting instead of missing badly as he had many of the early rounds. Still, Alvarez looked to slow down the momentum and land more clean power shots that likely negated Golovkin just sticking to the jab without much for power behind.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 10 -- 10-9 Golovkin (99-91 overall)

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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 9: 31-6 advantage for Alvarez on body shots landed through the first eight rounds. Golovkin finally started to do some good work late in the round, landing some right hands and getting Alvarez a bit thrown off his game. A strong finish to the round saw Golovkin have the best moments he had of the fight so far but it still may not have been enough to win the round.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 9 -- 10-9 Alvarez (90-81 overall)

September 18, 2022, 4:21 AM
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 8 -- 10-9 Alvarez (80-72 overall)

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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 8: Alvarez was heavy on the left hooks early, throwing the strike between jabs. Alvarez then dug to the body with left hooks before ripping to the head with a sharp uppercut. Alvarez really amped up his body work in the round, throwing with both hands but still coming upstairs with power shots to keep Golovkin's defense honest. It's hard to figure out what Golovkin can do to turn the tide here. There's just not enough speed or power for him to slow Alvarez down.

 
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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 7: As Alvarez continued to land his left hook, Golovkin seemed to have abandoned any idea of throwing punches to the body. Similarly, Alvarez seemed unwilling to commit to his own body word despite Golovkin looking vulnerable to the midsection in recent fights. Still, Alvarez was the one doing the better work, landing a good right hand and pushing forward constantly. There's very little doubt as to who has won every round as Alvarez appears to be running away with the fight via a very simple gameplan.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 7 -- 10-9 Alvarez (70-63 overall)

September 18, 2022, 4:13 AM
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Canelo Alvarez (c) vs. Gennadiy Golovkin -- Round 6: Golovkin continues to get tagged from the outside and when he manages to close distance, Alvarez lands a few punches and gets outside. Alvarez landed a big left hook to the stomach. Golovkin is not throwing enough and not landing with any power to throw Alvarez off his gameplan. Even when Golovkin lands a shot like an uppercut, there's no commitment and it's allowing Alvarez to immediately respond. The crowd boos as the round comes to a close.

 
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Brian Campbell unofficial scorecard: Round 6 -- 10-9 Alvarez (60-54 overall)

September 18, 2022, 4:09 AM
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