Alvarez retains undisputed super-middleweight crown

LAS VEGAS

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez retained his undisputed super-middleweight world title on Sept. 17, seeing off Gennady Golovkin to complete their epic fight trilogy in Las Vegas.

Mexico’s Alvarez was in charge for most of 12 rounds at an electric T-Mobile Arena, winning a unanimous decision to spark wild scenes of celebration among the Mexican fans who made up most of the sell-out crowd.

One judge scored the bout 116-112 while the two others saw it 115-113 for Alvarez, who took control early and continued to cruise even as Golovkin stepped it up in the late rounds.

“Thank you so much, my friend,” Alvarez said to Golovkin in the ring after a bout whose build-up was marked by some bitter rhetoric. “We gave the fans three good fights. Thank you for everything.”

It was a welcome return to form for Alvarez, who suffered the second defeat of his career earlier this year after moving up to light-heavyweight to face Dmitry Bivol.

“You have to continue to move forward,” he said. “I have shown that defeats can show you can be great and you can regain your humility.”

This return to 168 pounds clearly suited Alvarez, even though he said he fought with a left hand injury that will require surgery.

“I’ve had issues with my hand since the Caleb Plant fight last year,” he said. “I need surgery. It’s not broken, it’s more of a problem with my wrist.

“I got a bit tired at the end mainly because we haven’t worked on much explosive stuff in the gym. It was hugely satisfying to win and with my hand problems, I out-jabbed one of the best ever.”

Golovkin, meanwhile, was left to rue a leaden start, only sparking into life when it was too late.

“It was a tactical mistake on my part to start slow, but we wanted to see how the fight was going to develop,” Golovkin said. “I think we both started slowly.”

Alvarez, who said he knew from the first round he wouldn’t get the knockout he craved, improved to 58-2-2 with 39 knockouts.