It may not be the “money fight,” but two boxers are facing off this weekend in one of the most anticipated bouts of the season. Saul “Canelo” Álvarez will fight Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in a 12-round match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in a battle for middleweight supremacy.
Some see the Canelo vs. GGG fight as an answer to last month’s blockbuster showdown between Floyd Mayweather fought Conor McGregor, which was being called the biggest fight ever. Oscar De La Hoya, whose promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, is putting on Saturday’s match, criticized the Mayweather-McGregor fight for ”disrespecting the sport of boxing.”
Now, GGG and Canelo have a chance to show fans what a real boxing match looks like.
Golovkin, the undefeated 35-year-old Kazakhstani champ (37-0, 33 KOs), is defending his World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, and International Boxing Federation middleweight belts against Álvarez, a two-division world champion and current lineal middleweight world champ, who is a 27-year-old Mexican fighter (49-1-1, 34 KOs) trying to establish his supremacy in the ring in the post-Mayweather era. (The only loss for Canelo, so named because of his ginger hair, came from Mayweather in 2013.)
Álvarez is on a seven-bout winning streak, including defeating fellow Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May, which reinforced his dominance in the middleweight category. Though Golovkin will be no easy match: only three of his fights have gone past the eighth round and only one has lasted the full 12.
The fight will take place this Saturday, Sept. 16 (also Mexico’s Independence Day) live on pay-per-view starting at 5pm Las Vegas time (8pm New York time, 1am London time, 9am Tokyo time), with Álvarez and Golovkin likely entering the ring between 10:30pm and 11pm.
How to watch Canelo vs. GGG live
US pay-per-view
In the US, HBO Boxing is broadcasting the fight live via pay-per-view. HBO is charging $79.99 for the fight, which includes the undercard.
Unfortunately for cord-cutters, HBO Now, HBO’s standalone streaming service, does not offer a live stream of pay-per-view events; they can only be accessed via a traditional pay TV provider, like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, or DirecTV. HBO typically makes boxing matches available on-demand via HBO Go about a week after the fight.
UK pay-per-view
BoxNation, a boxing channel on Sky Sports, Virgin Media, and BT Sport platforms, will broadcast the fight live via pay-per-view for £16.95. Existing customers who already pay for BoxNation will get the fight included as part of their subscription (excluding those who get the channel free with BT Sport on Sky TV).
There are a few ways to order the fight through BoxNation. Sky and Virgin Media customers can purchase via remote control. Anyone else who wants to watch can visit watch.boxnation.com to subscribe and watch the fight on desktop and mobile devices (there is a registration fee of £4.95 and the subscription will continue at £12 per month unless you cancel it.)
Stream online
You can stream the fight live online via RingTV or at CaneloGGG.com, also for $79.99. You can buy directly from the sites or watch there if you’ve already purchased through pay-per-view. Both sites offer the fight in English and Spanish.
SlingTV
Cord-cutters with a SlingTV subscription can purchase the fight on Sling through pay-per-view in both English and Spanish for $79.99. This includes the pre-fight show and undercard matches.
Movie theaters
Fathom Events and Golden Boy Promotions are teaming up to broadcast the fight in 400 movie theaters across the country. Ticket prices vary between theaters, so check the Fathom Events website to find out if the fight is being shown near you.
Bars and restaurants
There will be plenty of bars and restaurants will be hosting Álvarez vs. Golovkin viewing parties on Saturday night. Many are making tickets available via EventBrite or you can call your local bars to find out if they will show the fight and if they are charging a cover.
What are the Canelo vs. GGG Vegas Odds?
The betting odds for Canelo vs. GGG are currently +125 Álvarez to -155 Golvokin, according to Odds Shark, so the fight is pretty evenly matched. (That means that for every $100 bet you place, you will win $125 ($225 total); -155 means that you need to bet $155 to win $100 in profit.)
Beyond the basic who-will-win odds, Odds Shark has a complete list of current odds for all the prop bets associated with the fight, including method of victory, timing, and total rounds.
Who is on the undercard?
The first undercard fight will be between lightweight Ryan “Blue Chip” Martin (19-0, 11 KOs) and Francisco Rojo (20-2, 13 KOs), who has never been knocked down.
Golden Boy’s Diego De La Hoya (19-0, 9 KOs), cousin of Oscar De La Hoya, then takes on Randy “El Matador” Caballero (24-0, 14 KOs) in the super-bantamweight category.
Then, in the main undercard event, undefeated featherweight Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. (24-0, 13 KOs) fights Mexico’s Jorge “Pilon” Lara (29-0-2, 21 KOs) for the right to fight World Boxing Council champion Gary Russell Jr. in the next showdown.
There will also be women’s boxing. Britain’s double Olympic champion Nicola Adams (2-0, 1 KO) will make her US debut against Hungarian Alexandra Vlajk (11-6, 2 KOs).