Canelo vs. GGG 3 Odds: We take an early look at the odds for the trilogy fight

There is another huge super fight from the squared circle in 2022; following on from Fury v Whyte and the upcoming Usyk v Joshua fight, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has spent no time licking his wounds after his shock loss to Dmitry Bivol at Light Heavyweight and has already announced his next fight. The 31-year-old Mexican has declined to take the rematch with Bivol immediately and instead returns to fight an old foe, Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, in a trilogy fight on the 17th September. 

We've asked our head boxing guy Adam Roberts to cast his eye at the early odds and give us his initial thoughts.

The Canelo v GGG 3 contract was apparently signed and sealed before the Dmitry Bivol fight, but there had been some chatter following Canelo's loss that he may in fact push back the Golovkin trilogy fight and opt to enforce a rematch with the Russian straight away. This has proven not to be case and we will see a run back for the fights from 2017 and 2018. 

Here was the official announcement:

The official result from the 2017 fight was given as a split draw but many onlookers had Triple G as the victor. Judge Adalaide Byrd remarkably scored the fight 118-110 to Canelo, a card that was widely derided over the next few months. The controversial nature of the first fight, plus the all-action style of the fight, led to immediate calls for a rematch.

The second fight was made for Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2018 but was subsequently cancelled after Canelo was awarded a 6 month ban for Clenbutorol - a positive test he put down to eating contaminated meat. The two eventually faced off again on September 15th in front of a sold out crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez winning a majority decision that again was hotly disputed.

Whereas Canelo boxed and moved in the first fight (he was called a "runner" by Golovkin's team), in the rematch he was far more aggressive, holding his feet and unloading his shots. Despite that the scorecards were extremely close, with both men drawing 104-104 on all three judges cards entering the final round. Two scored for Canelo and he won 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114. Obviously the close nature of the fight meant there was talk from both camps about a trilogy fight.

Unfortunately it's taken the best part of four years for us to get the two fighters in the same ring again. A combination of COVID, Canelo moving through the weights, pride and inactivity are to blame. That said, even with a 40-year-old Golovkin and a prime Canelo, this should be an intriguing fight and is still one of the biggest that can be made in boxing. 

When we look at the opening odds for the trilogy fight, it's clear that Canelo is a huge favourite. Even though he recently lost to Bivol, he's still as short as 1/4 to beat GGG in this one. Golovkin is around the 3/1 mark and the draw is 25/1.

Compare that with the first two match-ups between the two where Golovkin was a 4/6 favourite and the only conclusion is that Canelo has gone to a new level whereas GGG has slowed over the last four years due to his increasing age. 

Another big issue is the fight will be fought at Super-Middleweight, where Canelo is a four-belt holder and GGG is moving up in weight from Middle to fight at 168 for the first time. 

We will have full previews, predictions and all market odds later in the summer but for now we are excited to see how the build up for this one progresses. Don't forget to bookmark our boxing page at BettingOdds.com for all the latest fight news.