(While I was writing this, our own Pambansang Kamao was seen partying in Tokyo, Japan as posted in the Instagram. Guess who was in his company? Yeah, Floyd “Money” Mayweather. A Pacman-Mayweather 2 is being cooked, I guess.)
Yes, my column’s headline tells it all.
The fact that one judge scored it a draw and that the other two judges called the fight with identical 115-113 cards, gave me the “naughty” idea that Saul Canelo Alvarez did not beat GGG to be the new world middleweight champion.
Okay. For the layman’s understanding, judges or us (armchair spectators) you have only TWO criteria to weigh in a fight lasting the full 12-round route.
One, one fighter should have been knocked down and that two, a fighter must have dominated more than 6 of the 12-round battle.
No boxer hit the canvas and neither dominated the other.
No one got hit so bad that you could have easily determined who between them was landing the more solid and heavier punches.
In the Compubox.com stats, Golovkin threw more punches (879 to Alvarez’ 622) and landed more (234 to Alvarez’ 202).
These stats are the principal bases (at least for me), by which a judge normally gives the nod to the boxer who landed the more punches.
However, I strongly believed this was ignored.
The two judges (Moretti and Weisfeld) gave Canelo the winning margins and credited this to his aggressiveness. To me, this is doubtful because aggressiveness does not automatically translate to being “dominant.”
In fact, the Mexican threw so several hard punches – left and right crosses – that, had they found their mark, the Kazakh would have lain flat on his back.
GGG was tentative and was obviously bothered by the changed fighting style of the Mexican in the first three rounds. But even then, none landed a damaging blow to the other.
Although there were toe-to-toe exchanges, each boxer defended well, remarkably I should say as neither went wobbly.
I won’t say GGG was robbed. He did not win the fight but neither did he lose it. Alvarez did not also clearly win the encounter and had a majority draw been declared, I would not say too that he was robbed.
The logic lies in that boxing is a fistfight where one fighter needs to land punches. The more, the better, the heavier, the better.
So, how come GGG landed more punches (32 more than Alvarez) and still lost his crowns – the WBA, WBC and IBO altogether?
If Compubox.com registered more punches were landed by the Mex, then I would have to agree – wholeheartedly – with the ring judges giving it to Alvarez and it should have been a UD (unanimous decision) because of his aggressiveness.
In amateur boxing, like in the Olympics, aggressiveness is accorded a higher weight when the two boxers are adjudged tied in the scoring. When a boxer brings the fight to his opponent, he normally gets the nod of the panel.
I won’t call it a hometown decision. But definitely,GGG deserves another chance at redeeming himself. Expect a trilogy. (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) Mk. 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
