Max Kellerman and some of his fellow HBO commentators were noticeably pro-Canelo Alvarez on the broadcast for Saturday night’s fight between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
Alvarez won a majority decision over Golovkin in the rematch between the men at T-Mobile Arena. One judge scored it as a draw 114-114 and the other two judges had it 115-113 in favor of Canelo.
Most people thought it was a close fight — which the scoring bears out — but those watching HBO’s coverage felt Kellerman’s commentary told a different story. Most of his comments focused on Alvarez dominating the fight, controlling the fight, throwing more punches and doing more damage. He was focused on pointing out all the body shots Alvarez was throwing, even when many were missing. His comments about Golovkin suggested that GGG looked “old” and was unable to do much damage to the Mexican fighter.
All of his commentary was countered by HBO scorer Harold Lederman, whose scoring had the fight more balanced or in favor of GGG.
The seeming bias was not lost on viewers.
Whether you agree with the final outcome or not, most can agree that the fight was much closer than Kellerman made it seem.
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