Gennady “GGG” Golovkin V Canelo Alvarez II: Triple 9

By the time this insidious super-rematch takes place, nearly nine months will have passed since Adalaide Byrd gave birth to a monster. The father, time itself, was ravaging Kazahkstani all-time great Gennady ‘GGG' Golovkin, in a way more palpable than the legend of Mexican icon Canelo Alvarez…

One of them is about to become a memory in a way we will not forget, for the victor is not about to become the spoiled.

Golovkin was robbed on September 16, 2017. Not in a Brinks truck heist getaway kinda way in broad day, but a little close to that. I thought Triple G clearly defended his titles, in as much as Alvarez wasn't offensive enough to take them. I had it 116-112 for the G-man, as we should've seen a defiant Canelo storming back to the dressing room barking in broken English, “Damn It! I had him! He wasn't no Goliath! I fucking gave him a boxing lesson! What the fuck was Byrd watching?!”, … or something like that.

There's an indelible clip of his Golden Boy CEO, Oscar De La Hoya, really disenchanted and storming back to the dressing room in September 1999, after having no one to blame but himself for losing his superfight with Felix “Tito” Trinidad. In Oscar's case, he could've actually solidified his case – by behaving like a champion instead of a brat – during the championship rounds. Instead, the judges judged him for that. Consequently, the Golden Boy never got that much coveted rematch with Trinidad (Tito would've gotten KTFO), and its very doubtful that Triple G gives Canelo any chance at a rematch after waiting two years to fight him in the first place. Conspiracy theorists will tell you that someone in Las Vegas was going to make sure Canelo wound up with at least a draw.

If you believe ESPN boxing maelstrom Teddy Atlas, Byrd saw that fight exactly as someone wanted her to see it. That is, she saw the fight before it even happened, somehow Ms. Cleo'ing her way into gifted rounds for Canelo clearly lost. Whatever Don Trella was doing on his Smart Phone during the 7th round upon further review, was so little yellow school bus.

But that was then. This is now.

Gennady Golovkin is one of the greatest middleweights of all-time. I personally have him ranked #2 in the pantheon of the greats, believing him to be more a little more than Carlos Monzon and superior to Sugar Ray Robinson, who was no middleweight. I saw a steak infested Roberto Duran damn near eat Marvelous Marvin Hagler. I definitely know that the 2018 version of Golovkin is better than an Argentinian bull named Juan Roldan. Had Roldan not been thumbed in the eye by Hagler in that fight, things get iffy.

You can probably thank Harold Weston for this, but Bernard Hopkins is the greatest middleweight champion I've ever seen in my life. With all of this in mind, just who do you think was responsible for the blueprint Canelo carried into the ring on September 16, 2017? Not only will B-Hop be ringside as a very interested Golden Boy executive observer on May 5, but he will have scrapped the original blueprint, in place of one with more violent schematics.

Alvarez will also walk into this rematch with whatever hell Oscar never got the chance to unleash on Trinidad.

They say in boxing that the power is the last thing to go when a fighter ages, and I suppose that's true, although I have a different theory. I believe [a fighter's will] is the last thing to go. He never recaptures amazing reflexes after losing them. His conditioning can remain special, but he works just a little harder to get there, while sacrificing some of the intangibles that made him special. If a special fighter loses speed, however, he automatically loses power, forcing him to compensate with a will he's never had to summon before. If faced with great opposition he “probably” would've beaten before, this same fighter probably loses.

An older special fighter almost always loses to a great younger fighter. In this case, we have a great older fighter no longer special in Golovkin, facing a younger Canelo about to morph from great to special.

GGG has always struck me as a good cop capable of evil things with a badge of honor in the ring. That's who he is. But now he's being forced to re-hunt someone out on bail that he'd already successfully arrested. He's gotta kiss his wife on the forehead and smile at the baby, before heading out the door to once again confront a man that doesn't fuck around from Mexico. He's got a good partner in Abel Sanchez, but sometimes cops go down in the line of duty.

Every now and then, dispatch picks up a call of a Triple 9 in progress.