After the circus show that was Mayweather v McGregor, hopefully this weekend’s clash between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez will restore the fight game’s credibility.
Both are outstanding at their weight and Golovkin comes into the Las Vegas showdown with a perfect 37-0 record, 33 of his victories having been stoppages. But ‘Triple G’ is now 35 and there have been a few signs lately that the Kazakhstan-born champion is not the force of old. American Daniel Jacobs took him the distance last time and comfortably held off Golovkin’s traditional early flurry of punches. The verdict was unanimous in the end but closer than forecast and you get the impression Alvarez will play the long game at the T-Mobile Arena and hope to pick off the older fighter in the second half of the fight.
It’s not often that Alvarez has entered the ring as the underdog but that’s the case this weekend. It’s hard to believe that the Mexican is still only 27 as he’s already had 51 pro fights. But he’s lost just one of those and that was in controversial circumstances at light middleweight against Floyd Mayweather.
‘Canelo’ comprehensively outpointed Julio Cesar Chavez in May and has won all seven bouts since that defeat by Mayweather and the 7/5 for the younger boxer to beat Golovkin looks good value with Bwin.
Two million punters have already registered at Bwin which means that they are one of the biggest sports betting companies in the world. Of course, it could all be over quickly if Golovkin connects with one of his trademark chin shots in the opening rounds but Alvarez is no mug. He’ll use the ring to keep his opponent at arm’s length and, if he gets to halfway relatively unscathed, is likely to be stronger in the final six rounds. I’m very keen on an Alvarez win on points or by a technical decision (21/10 at Sportingbet) – at those odds, you could even have a saver on Golovkin to win by KO or TKO at a best 13/8 and still come out ahead.
