Boxing Legend Cites Foul Play in Canelo vs. GGG Decision

After nearly two years of anticipation and build-up, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin finally met in the squared circle last night (Sept. 16, 2017) in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a bout between not only two of the best middleweights in the world, but two of the best fighters in the world period, the action didn’t disappoint, although the decision did.

Judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 115-113 for Golovkin, while Don Trella scored it 114-114. Both scores appeared to be somewhat reasonable given how close the fight was, but the final score, which came from Adelaide Byrd, read 118-110 in favor of “Canelo”, and it’s safe to say that the boxing community wasn’t pleased with that view.

In the end, the bout was deemed a draw despite many feeling as if Golovkin had won, and boxing legend Teddy Atlas blames the decision on ‘corruption in boxing’:

“Corruption in boxing,” Atlas said bluntly when asked on ESPN what he thought about the decision. “Follow the money. And no one else is going to say that in boxing, and some people are going to be very upset, and I don’t care. I don’t care if they’re upset.”

Atlas continued on, with his anger noticeably increasing, as he discussed the need for more ‘federal guidelines’ in the sport of boxing, so that issues like this can be limited:

“There’s money to be made in the casino business, but there is an oversight board to make sure there is no corruption. There’s no oversight board in boxing,” an enraged Atlas shouted.

“There’s no commission. There’s no national commission. No federal guidelines. Nobody looking and saying, ‘Ah, can’t do that! Oh, can’t do that! You can’t be charge! Promoter can’t be in charge of who the judges are going to be! No, of course you want these judges. You can’t be in charge; we’re in charge. We’re going to oversee it, we’re going to police it, we’re going to make sure that there’s no corruption.’ There’s nothing.”

What did you make of the decision?