Canelo Alvarez Vs Gennady “GGG” Golovkin III – Do We Want to See It?
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By Brian “The Beret” Young
With 24 rounds in the books and two controversial decisions boxing fans all around the world are asking for a third go round for the Middleweight Championship of the world. But we should step back and ask, do we really want to see a third fight? And what does history tell us about how a Canelo Vs “GGG” trilogy might shape up.
Before we begin, let’s take a look at the reality of the situation. If a third fight is to take place it probably wouldn’t be until mid-way thru 2019, at the earliest. At that point Alvarez will be 29 years old, in his athletic prime. “GGG”, on the other hand, will be 39 years old. And even though 35 is the new 25 in boxing, 40 (39) is still 40 (unless your name is Bernard Hopkins). Especially just after having had two hard fights against a strong young fighter like Canelo. Don’t get me wrong, I scored BOTH fights for “GGG”, but reality is a harsh thing. How much more could he bring into a third fight, seeing that the judges didn’t think he did enough to win the first two?
So let’s go to the history books to see what we may have to look forward to if these champions meet again. In the annals of boxing there have been many great trilogies. Today we will look at just a few and try to get an idea of what Alvarez/”GGG” could look like.
We’ll begin with the Roy Jones, JR. Vs Antonio Tarver trilogy. In March of 2003 Light heavyweight Champ Roy Jones, JR. made history by going up and defeating John Ruiz for the WBA Heavyweight title. Having vacated his Light Heavyweight titles, Antonio Tarver faced Montell Griffin for the belts. Tarver dominated to win a unanimous decision and immediately called out the great Roy Jones, JR. Jones, never one to shy away from a challenge, agreed. Jones seemed weakened and unable to get going in this contest, having dropped down from 193 pounds of muscle he weighed in at for the Ruiz fight. While Jones was able to land at a higher percentage, Tarver landed the more telling blows and most in attendance felt Tarver had bested the great Champion. The Judge’s score cards showed a draw on one card at 114-114 but the others overruled by scores of 117-11 and 116-112 for Roy Jones, JR.. It was clear a rematch was not far off. Five months later they were back in the ring, this time Tarver had no plans on letting the judges have a say in the outcome.
In the second round Tarver caught Jones, JR. with a devastating left hook that put Jones down. He did get to his feet but the referee, Jay Nady, waved the fight off deeming Jones unable to continue. After the two Tarver fight Jones decided to challenge Glen Johnson for the title Tarver vacated. For the second fight in a row Roy Jones, JR. was knocked out; this time in the eighth. Tarver then decided to challenge Johnson and Johnson beat the odds again by winning a split decision over Tarver. This should have been the end of the story, but alas, it usually always goes one fight too far in boxing. So on Oct 5th 2005 Jones, JR. and Tarver met for the third time. This time neither man was the one they were just two years earlier. The speed that made Jones, JR. so special was now mortal. Tarver couldn’t seem to mount a serious offense until the 11th round where he came close to putting Jones, JR. down, but punched himself out before he could deliver the knockout blow. Still Tarver did enough to win a unanimous decision (116-112 and 117-111 twice). As exciting the buildup for the first fight was, and as shocking as the second fight was, the third didn’t come close to living up to it’s potential. Was Jones too old and a shot fighter? Jones, JR. was 36 at the time of the third fight, three years younger than “GGG” will be if he fights Alvarez again.
In May 1935 Barney Ross faced Jimmy McLarnin for the first of three closely contested fights, Ross winning a close decision. Four months later McLarnin avenged his loss in another close contest. Their Rubber match was exactly one year after the first, on May 28th 1935, Ross again won, this time by unanimous decision, but many ringside reports felt it was as close a fight as the first two. Jimmy McLarnin was a whopping 28 years old at the time of the third fight and Ross was two years his junior. In a perfect world this is how a trilogy should be fought. In a short period of time between two at around their primes. Sadly, this is hardly ever the case.
Arturo Gatti Vs Mickey Ward is a trilogy that instantly comes to fight fans minds when thinking of epic rivalries. These fights were fought between May 18th 2002 and June 7th 2003. The three fights were the stuff of movies, oh wait, they did make a movie about it, right? These were two men who didn’t fight for millions (the first time anyway) or titles. This was two warriors, throwbacks to a bygone era. Men who had nothing to lose and fought like it. These fights were so good many boxing fans can’t even tell you who won what fights.
For the record Ward won the first and Gatti the next two, but does that really matter? Also, unlike Alvarez and “GGG”, Gatti and Ward were almost mirror images of each other, same styles, same attitude even almost the same tattoo! The only major difference was in age, Ward was 7 years older than Gatti and by the third fight it was obvious. Gatti and Ward went to hell and back three times, both leaving it all on the line every minute of all three fights. Gatti, under the tutelage of Buddy McGirt, tried to fight a more stylized defensive fight at one point, but once Ward attacked that warrior switch flipped in Arturo and caution was again thrown to the wind. Both Alvarez and “GGG” have the ability to fight this way, and have in the past. But against each other they are both too reluctant to let their inner warrior out and I don’t see that changing if they meet again.
The last trilogy we’ll look at today was way back in 1906, the Battling Nelson Vs Joe Gans fights. In their first fight it took 42 rounds before Nelson, frustrated by not being able to take Gans out, hit him square in the, let’s just say “hit him low”. It was so flagrant that the referee had no choice but to disqualify the Champ and make Joe Gans the first African-American boxing champion of the gloved era! The two would meet again July 4th 1908 and then again two months later, Nelson winning both fights by knockout (in the 17th and 21st rounds respectively). For their 2nd and 3rd fights Nelson was 26 years old and Gans was 34 and well past his prime (said to have even had tuberculosis at the time of the fights, dying 2 years later of the disease). To me, this is the trilogy that reminds me most of what could be in a third Alvarez “GGG” fight. Albeit with totally different outcomes. The two men were evenly matched when they first fought, just like Canelo and “GGG”, hence the “draw”. But by the time the third fight rolls around one man will be past his prime. The other man will be younger and more confident. The older fighter will be game but just won’t have enough to take out the younger man.
Most boxing fans I have spoken to want to see a third fight. I have heard people say things like it could be like Ali vs Frazier, or Barrera vs Morales or Zale Vs Graziano etc. But if history teaches us anything it’s that great trilogies are rare. The chance that a third Alvarez Vs “GGG” fight will be as good as the first two is slim. I would rather see both men go their separate ways. Alvarez with the win on his record and “GGG” knowing in his heart he won both fights and they were taken from him. Alvarez has other challengers who deserve a shot at his title. As a historian it isn’t often I say I would rather look to the future than relive the past. This is one of those times.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any comments or questions for my planned Q&A monthly feature. Or if you have a suggestion for something you would like a historians take on.
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