Canelo Alvarez, right, connects with a right to Gennady Golovkin during a middleweight title fight on Saturday, September 16, 2017, in Las Vegas. The pair will do battle again at the same venue on May 5, 2018. John Locher / AP Photo
Canelo Alvarez, right, connects with a right to Gennady Golovkin during a middleweight title fight on Saturday, September 16, 2017, in Las Vegas. The pair will do battle again at the same venue on May 5, 2018. John Locher / AP Photo
Canelo Alvarez, right, connects with a right to Gennady Golovkin during a middleweight title fight on Saturday, September 16, 2017, in Las Vegas. The pair will do battle again at the same venue on May 5, 2018. John Locher / AP Photo
Canelo Alvarez, right, connects with a right to Gennady Golovkin during a middleweight title fight on Saturday, September 16, 2017, in Las Vegas. The pair will do battle again at the same venue on May

With Golovkin v Alvarez rematch confirmed Cinco de Mayo promises to be explosive


Steve Luckings
  • English
  • Arabic

"This is the fight the world wants. This is the fight boxing deserves."

Never have truer words been spoken. On Monday it was announced that Gennady "GGG" Golovkin and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will lock horns again in May, adding dynamite to the "Cinco de Mayo" weekend in a rematch of their epic draw last September.

That bout had everything, Canelo edged the early rounds, Golovkin the middle sector and the championship rounds were back and forth, with many concluding that the pendulum had just swung back the Mexican challenger's way.

In the end Golovkin retained his IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight championship belts via a draw, the first time the big-hitting Kazakh had failed to see his arm raised in 37 contests. A quite frankly laughable decision by one of the ringside judges - Adalaide Byrd scored it a one-sided, 118-110 in favour of Alvarez - threatened to overshadow the result. A personal view is that the overall outcome was the correct one - Golovkin was no worse than Canelo, Canelo no better than Golovkin.

______________

Read more:

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker set for world heavyweight title clash

______________

"I didn't agree with some of the judges' decisions in the first fight," Golovkin said. "This time there will be no doubt. I am leaving the ring as the middleweight champion of the world." Canelo added: "This time, Golovkin won't have any excuses regarding the judges because I'm coming to knock him out."

It's a safe assumption Byrd will not be one of the ringside judges for the sensational sequel.

It is only right the sport's two finest pugilists take up the cudgels again, but GGG-Canelo II is by no means the only exciting match-up on May 5.

Across the Atlantic, on the same night, two British fighters will set foot in the ring to face each other for a second time. Tony Bellew and David Haye were slated to meet last December before the latter suffered a torn bicep in the build up.

Tony Bellew, right, won the first contest against an injured David Haye in March 2017. Nick Potts / PA
Tony Bellew, right, won the first contest against an injured David Haye in March 2017. Nick Potts / PA

The fight at London's 02 Arena will take place more than 12 months since the first meeting between the two, when Bellew claimed an 11th round stoppage after Haye suffered a ruptured Achilles in Round 6 of their heavyweight contest that severely restricted his movement.

Bellew, 35, says he has concerns whether Haye's body will hold up to the rigours of training for an elite-evel bout, with the Englishman having pulled out of four of his last eight scheduled fights with various injuries.

“It does worry me. But saying that I know he has no way to go. I know he will do everything possible to get in the ring on the fifth of May," Bellew told reporters last week.

But Bellew may do well to hope Haye's body deserts him again. Haye was a sitting duck from the middle of the sixth round onward in their first fight. My scorecard had Haye ahead four rounds to one before his Achilles blew up. The fact Bellew kept urging Haye's corner to throw in the towel says as much about the Liverpudlian's lack of killer instinct as it does about Haye's health.

Haye's professional record reads 28 wins, 26 by way of knockout with three defeats to Bellew's 29 wins (19 KOs), with two losses and one draw. With WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua taking on the WBO belt holder Joseph Parker in Cardiff on March 31, a win for Haye will catapult him right back into the championship reckoning. But given how many times his body has let him down in the past, Haye, 37, knows another defeat will rule him out of the title picture for good.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo 

 Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua

 Based: Dubai, UAE

 Number of employees: 28

 Sector: Financial services

 Investment: $9.5m

 Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. 

 
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMaly%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mo%20Ibrahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20International%20Financial%20Centre%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.6%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2015%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%2C%20planning%20first%20seed%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GCC-based%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Married Malala

Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.

The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.

Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.

What are the influencer academy modules?
  1. Mastery of audio-visual content creation. 
  2. Cinematography, shots and movement.
  3. All aspects of post-production.
  4. Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
  5. Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
  6. Tourism industry knowledge.
  7. Professional ethics.
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence