I don't know many people who were picking GGG by decision in Vegas. The consensus seemed to be that it was going to be either GGG by KO (or 12 rd beatdown w/ multiple KD's) or Canelo Decision. With Byrd and Moretti as judges, a Canelo decision was all but ensured if he was left standing after the final bell.
Let's look at this from the casual fans' perspective... At the end of "the real boxing fight" we got a double **** sandwich: a split draw in a historically significant and p4p-level title fight AND blatant evidence of attempted robbery. So, clearly, there was something going on with the judges for this fight. In this context, doesn't the fact that GGG got a draw against Canelo mean he dominated so many rounds that judges, who had every incentive to score it for the cash cow "A" side, couldn't conceivably give Canelo more than 6 rounds (minus the Byrd card, of course)?
GGG walks away from this with more than a moral victory (from the point of view of the public): getting a draw against Canelo in Vegas means you dominated the fight in the eyes of the paid off judges. Not to mention he keeps all his belts! Also, the whole "Mexican style" debate was a huge theme leading up this fight... was Canelo "Mexican" enough? Who truly embodies "Mexican style"? Well, Canelo survived the fight and fought with hair-t in the 11th and 12th, but he definitively lost the battle for the hearts of Mexican fans to GGG (who fought exactly as he said he would).
Let's look at this from the casual fans' perspective... At the end of "the real boxing fight" we got a double **** sandwich: a split draw in a historically significant and p4p-level title fight AND blatant evidence of attempted robbery. So, clearly, there was something going on with the judges for this fight. In this context, doesn't the fact that GGG got a draw against Canelo mean he dominated so many rounds that judges, who had every incentive to score it for the cash cow "A" side, couldn't conceivably give Canelo more than 6 rounds (minus the Byrd card, of course)?
GGG walks away from this with more than a moral victory (from the point of view of the public): getting a draw against Canelo in Vegas means you dominated the fight in the eyes of the paid off judges. Not to mention he keeps all his belts! Also, the whole "Mexican style" debate was a huge theme leading up this fight... was Canelo "Mexican" enough? Who truly embodies "Mexican style"? Well, Canelo survived the fight and fought with hair-t in the 11th and 12th, but he definitively lost the battle for the hearts of Mexican fans to GGG (who fought exactly as he said he would).
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