The first two fights between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez were two of the best the middleweight division has ever seen, and now Golovkin has finally revealed just how hard Canelo hits.
The first contest was in 2017 and was a close-fought battle with great technical skill but also plenty of power punching. Both men took heavy shots though neither was knocked down as they competed for the WBO, WBC and IBO world titles. The fight was rather controversially ruled a draw with many believing that ‘GGG’ had done enough to take the victory.
A rematch played out a year later in the same T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and this time the younger man in Canelo was more aggressive and did enough to take a points win and the IBO and WBC belts.
A third and final fight took place in 2022, by which time Golovkin had begun to age and slow down and Canelo took advantage of that and secured a much clearer points win to take home the IBF, WBC and WBO world titles.
Speaking to DAZNBoxing, ‘GGG’ rated Canelo’s power in relation to a standout right hand in the second fight.
“I remember that punch. Well, I let it get through. You know it wasn’t, I don’t know what to call it, it wasn’t hard. It felt kind of like a slap I guess. A slap or a sliding punch. Well, it didn’t do too much.”
Canelo has gone on to more success since the trilogy fight, successfully defending his super-middleweight titles four more times and is now chasing a ‘legacy’ rematch against Dmitry Bivol.
Golovkin has not fought again having won 42 fights in all, 37 by knockout but has not entirely ruled out making a comeback.
