Canelo Alvarez has brought a conclusive end to his rivalry with Gennady Golovkin with a dominant points win in Las Vegas.
In 2017 and 2018 respectively, their showdowns ended in controversy with Golovkin seemingly unfortunate not to prevail in at least one of those bouts.
However, the debate as to who was the better fighter in the third instalment will not rage on after Canelo produced a disciplined performance to retain his four world titles at 168lbs.
While Canelo was not as explosive as in previous fights, the Mexican efficiently clocked up the early rounds as Golovkin failed to land anything of note.
That trend continued through the middle sessions as it quickly became apparent that the legendary Kazakh would need to become the first man to stop Canelo in order to become a two-weight world champion.
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Golovkin came alive in the Championship rounds, launching the kind of assaults that would have led to less established opponents wilting considerably as the fight approached the final bell.
Nevertheless, despite the 40-year-old having the better of the closing stages, both fighters would have known at the end of the 12th round that Canelo was deservedly going to the get the verdict with the judges.
Although the scorecards of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 were not as wide as they should have been, Canelo was able to celebrate as he secured one of the most notable wins of his career.
After the fight, Canelo revealed that he would undergo surgery on his left hand having carried the injury into the fight, that issue needing to be rectified before he looks to secure a rematch with WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Meanwhile, Golovkin insists that retirement is not on the agenda, insisting that he would look to defend his IBF, WBA and IBO belts back down at middleweight.
