Thomas Hauser - A Dangerous Journey: Inside Another Year in Boxing

A Dangerous Journey contains the articles about professional boxing that I authored in 2018 and also a section that includes a handful of pieces written about other sports.

The articles I wrote about the sweet science prior to 2018 have been published in Muhammad Ali & Company; A Beautiful Sickness; A Year at the Fights; The View From Ringside; Chaos, Corruption, Courage, and Glory; I Dont Believe It, But Its True; The Greatest Sport of All; The Boxing Scene; An Unforgiving Sport; Boxing Is; Winks and Daggers; And the New; Straight Writes and Jabs; Thomas Hauser on Boxing; A Hurting Sport; A Hard World; Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to The Greatest; There Will Always Be Boxing; and Protect Yourself At All Times.

Over the course of twenty-four hotly-contested rounds against Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez proved that hes an elite fighter.

On September 15, 2018, Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin did battle at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the middleweight championship of the world. It was the kind of match-up that boxing needs more of. Two elite fighters ranked high on every pound-for-pound list and the top two fighters in their weight division, one of them boxings biggest pay-per-view draw.

It was a legacy fight for both men. But for Alvarez, it was something more. One year earlier, he and Golovkin had fought to a controversial draw. That fight had been for history and glory. This one, because of a positive test for a banned drug, was for Canelos honor.

Alvarez is a fighter at heart. Hes a tough SOB with a great chin. And he can fight. He turned pro at age fifteen and, in the thirteen years since then, has fashioned a 5012 (34 KOs) ring record. On many occasions, he has gone in tough. But with each big win he achieved in the past, there was a caveat attached. This opponent was too old. That one was too small. The decision wasnt right. And there was a 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather when a too-young Canelo was befuddled over the course of twelve long rounds.

Golovkin, now 36, won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics on behalf of Kazakhstan and had compiled a 3801 (34 KOs) ledger in the professional ranks. More significantly, hed reigned at various times as the WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight champion and still held the WBC and WBA crowns. While Gennady had been tested by fewer world-class inquisitors than Canelo, hed never shied away from a challenge. At his best, he relentlessly grinds opponents down.

Alvarez and Golovkin met in the ring for the first time on September 16, 2017, in the most-anticipated fight of the year. That bout generated a live gate of $27,059,850 at T-Mobile Arena, the third largest live gate in boxing history. The 22,358 fans in attendance comprised the largest indoor crowd ever for a fight in Las Vegas.

It was a spirited bout with most observers believing that Golovkin deserved the decision. Dave Moretti scored the contest 115113 for Gennady. Don Trella scored it even. Adelaide Byrd turned in what might have been the worst scorecard ever in a major fight: 118110 for Canelo.

Clearly, a rematch was in order. But on what terms? Despite being the challenger, Alvarez had been the driving economic force behind the first fight. That was reflected in the slightly better than 70-to-30-percent division of income in favor of Canelo and his promoter (Golden Boy). The differential was narrowed to 6535 as negotiations for the rematch proceeded. A contract for a May 5 encore was signed. But while Canelo-Golovkin I had been conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, the atmosphere was different now.