Who has won each of the previous Canelo-GGG fights

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennadiy Golokin will fight for the third time this Saturday, September 17 at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip for the unified super middleweight championship. Alvarez (57-2-2) will be defending his WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring title in the 168-pound (super middleweight) weight class. Golovkin (42-1-1) is moving up from the middleweight division where he holds the WBA, IBF, and IBO titles. DAZN PPV will handle the streaming broadcast.

The third fight comes five years and a day after their first fight and four years and two days after their rematch. The first fight was a draw and Alvarez won the second by split decision, but both judgments were considered controversial. In the four years since their last fight, Alvarez has won titles in two more weight classes, but is coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol in a fight for the WBA “super” light heavyweight title. Golovkin has been less active, but has won all four fights leading into Saturday and claimed three middleweight titles.

Alvarez is a -550 favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook. Golovkin is the underdog at +370.

Here is a look back at their previous two fights.

Canelo vs. GGG 1

The first fight took place at the T-Mobile Arena on September 16, 2017. Golovkin was defending his WBA, WBF, IBF, and WBO middleweight titles. It was a more tactical fight than expected, but still hard-hitting. Golovkin took control of the fight in the middle rounds, but Alvarez closed the show strong. Still Golovkin outlanded Alvarez in 10 of the 12 rounds and held a 218 to 169 advantage on punches landed on CompuBox. The result of the fight was a a draw with Dave Moretti scoring it 115-113 in favor of Golovkin, Don Trella scoring it a 114-114 draw and Adalaide Byrd scoring it 118-110 for Alvarez.

Byrd’s scorecard was widely mocked as she gave Golovkin just the fourth and seventh rounds. All three judges gave Alvarez the first two rounds and final three rounds. Moretti scored rounds 3-9 for Golovkin and Trella had round 3-6, 8 and 9 for Golovkin. The fight did great business with a 1.3 million PPV buys and $110 million in revenue. Alvarez got $5 million guaranteed and a 70 percent split of the PPV sales. GGG got $3 million up front and 30 percent split of the PPV.

ESPN and HBO’s Harold Lederman scored the fight 116-112 for Golovkin. The Associated Press had it as a 114-114 draw. Byrd’s scorecard was considered more proof that Alavrez gets favored by certain judges with many pointing to C.J. Ross giving Alvarez a 114-114 draw against Floyd Mayweather in a fight that Mayweather clearly dominated. Byrd continues to judge fights, but is rarely used for anything significant.

Canelo vs. GGG 2

After the draw there was an immediate rematch scheduled for May 2018, but it had to be put on hold when Alvarez tested positive twice for clenbuterol forcing a six-month suspension retroactive to February 17. The rematch was finally scheduled for September 15, 2018. The second fight was more indictive of what we had come to expect from Alvarez. He was more aggressive and threw hard shots to the body. Golovkin worked his jab a lot more and outlanded Canelo 234-202 because of it.

Judge Glenn Feldman scored the fight a 114-114 draw. Moretti and Steve Weisfeld scored the fight 115-113 for Alvarez giving him a split decision. Both judges gave Alvarez the final round. Opinions were mixed again with the slight majority of boxing media favoring Golovkin, but the judging was much better received.

The rematch drew well, generating $120 million in revenue with 1.1 million PPV buys. Both fighters received $5 million in guaranteed purse with Alvarez getting 55 percent of the PPV split.