By Miguel Rivera
The debates continue over who should have won last month's middleweight fight between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) and IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs).
The two boxers clashed on September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the three official judges rendering a twelve round split draw.
There were a lot of post fight controversy over the wide 118-110 score in favor of Canelo, with the other two judges having it 115-113 for Golovkin and 114-114 for the draw.
There are now ongoing discussions to make a rematch, likely on the Cinco De Mayo date of May 5th in 2018. Several venues would be in the running, but the frontrunner would have to be the MGM Grand/T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with AT&T Stadium in Texas as the second.
Canelo does have a rematch clause that he can exercise to force an immediate fight if needed. If there is no deal reached in the immediate future, then Golovkin plans to fight again before the year is out - possibly on a date in December - and his probable target is WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders.
Former four division champion Juan Manuel Marquez felt the contest was close and was there for the taking for either boxer, but in the end he saw GGG as the winner.
"Canelo had a good defense, very active," said Marquez. "He let a couple of rounds slip through and he could have won any of them, but I had Golovkin as the winner. [Golovkin] did miss a lot more than he landed on Canelo. He should have did more than just follow [Canelo] around."
Former world champion Jorge "Travieso" Arce also agreed with Marquez. He had Golovkin as the winner of the contest.
"I did not see a draw. I felt GGG was robbed. In the end everything is business," Arce added.