something I posted in a t-nation thread:
Well that was a lovely scrap.... What a sick fight.
I came away with different take-aways than some of the posts in this thread:
- Canelo's boxing skill is superior to GGG's. He was slipping GGG's punches all night, making him miss by a mile on many occasions. His counters were so sharp. He had GGG frozen for a good portion of the fight, GGG just couldn't unleash his power because he was missing too much & was cautious about what was coming back.
- Canelo's body work is absolutely beautiful. GGG abandoned his body work, for the most part.
- Canelo was way too tight in this fight. He looked nervous from the onset. He was shaking his arms throughout the fight, just didn't look settled. Even with all that, he somehow was able to slip & counter beautifully. GGG looked so relaxed and confident from the onset.
- Canelo's "Floyd Impersonation" probably tired him out even more-so. Just way too much backward movement, dancing around the ring. That's not his style, and I don't think it served his stamina well in this fight.
- GGG's heart is incredible. Towards the end of the fight, between rounds, man was he sucking wind. He looked absolutely trashed in the corner. But once the bell rings, he just comes forward in terminator mode and pushes through it. He didn't let his foot off of the gas, even while being very visibly fatigued.
- GGG's power is incredible, but Canelo can take it. Canelo's power is solid, and GGG can take it as expected.
- In the rematch, GGG won't be able to make as much adjustments as Canelo. This is why, for the rematch, I personally feel more confident that Canelo will win a decisive decision, as long as Canelo stands his ground more and comes in with more confidence. If Canelo has stamina issues throughout the entire fight, GGG will win "again".
- GGG definitely won that fight, but not by much. I can see how that could be called a draw, but 118-110 for EITHER fighter is an absolute disgrace. That fight was very close. I personally had GGG winning 116-112 but that could have easily been 115-113, which again is close to draw status.
I've seen some highlight videos posted so far, and in my opinion, Canelo has the majority of the highlights: slips, counters, combos, movement, all in Canelo's favor. His boxing is so damn sharp it's really impressive. GGG is a true warrior with freak power, but he's like an "old dog" at this point. I don't see him acquiring some of these nuanced skills like Canelo has done over the years. Canelo adopted TOO MUCH of a "Floyd style" in this fight.
IMHO, If Canelo stands his ground more in the rematch, I think he can really school GGG. When Canelo did stand his ground, he got the better of the exchanges. I have no problem with him backing up, but he needs to do it more "controlled" and waste less energy moving back explosively. He also needs to do less of it in general, and just stand in the pocket slipping & countering which he proved he can do against GGG. If he makes those adjustments, which I think he will because he's that caliber of fighter, the rematch should go his way.
Also if anyone remembers, he stood between rounds in his last (few?) fights. I think he's been trying to improve/address some stamina issues in anticipation of a fight like this. IMHO, he was struggling for most of the fight. To me, you could see him trying to relax, but he just couldn't relax on the level he wanted. I think confidence and nerves could have alot to do with it, or maybe it has more to do with the weight gain, since he looked alot more relaxed when he fought at true welter. This is something they need to try and fix, fast. I don't think it's as simple as more road work/conditioning, there's some other stuff going on there. I mean he's been in so many 12 round fights, massive title fights, etc - at this point he should look way more comfortable throughout the first 3 quarters of a fight like this. The "arm shaking" is a big sign to me.. You don't do it as much as he did it, if you're not feeling very tight. He did lots of subtle shaking of his arms, and some overt ones as well. As a counter example, I can't even think of the last time I saw Floyd shake his arms in a fight.. Floyd's 12 round stamina is absolute god-mode. But Floyd ALWAYS fights his own fight. He doesn't switch it up like Canelo did, and fight with a different style. He just goes out and does exactly what he always does, and he's completely comfortable doing it, no matter the work rate of his opponent.
Anyway, SICK FIGHT.
peace
