Mere weeks after Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor to took to the ring to fight a record-smashing boxing-match that helped sports league and corporate sponsor alike, boxers Canelo Alvarez met Gennady Golovkin in a Las Vegas match that at least one person described as “one of the most shocking in boxing history.”
Before a sold-out crowd of 22,358 at the T-Mobile Arena, the two boxers went at each other for 12 rounds, only to find that their judges could not come to much agreement. The fight was ruled a split draw, leaving Golovkin, boxing’s longest-reigning world titleholder, with his unified middleweight title and many fans outraged at scoring inconsistencies.
(The scores, by the way: Dave Moretti had it 115-113 in favor of Golovkin; Adalaide Byrd had it 118-110 for Alvarez; Don Trella had it 114-114. Much of the post-fight outrage hinges on Byrd’s judgment.)
Of course each fighter is hardly a loser when it comes to the business side of the match. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Canelo earned $5 million just to show up, while Golovkin, known as GGG, took home $3 million. Both fighters will make considerably more once pay-per-view receipts and live gates are tallied—and though those aren’t expected to reach Mayweather-McGregor levels, the athletes are still expected to each take home a tidy sum.
Alvarez has the option to exercise a rematch clause for another fight, but that decision has yet to be made. In the meantime you can read a blow-by-blow account of the match from our friends at Sports Illustrated.