“Freaks of nature” - Costello on Alvarez v Golovkin

It took the 12th and final round to split Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas on Saturday. They have shared 72 minutes and ringside judges chose to finally give Alvarez an edge in this riveting rivalry. BBC Sport boxing correspondent Mike Costello explained why the weekend’s contest will have a lasting legacy. “I was 10 or 12 feet away from the action and whatever you do in the world of sport you will never be as close to sport that is so special. That was a memorable night,” said Costello. “At heavyweight, we wouldn't get the class punching in addition to the movement or variation. If we went down in weight you wouldn't have the bone-crunching power. As it's the middleweight division we saw the fluency of the lighter weights and the power of the bigger weights in a perfect mix. “There were so many high-quality aspects to admire from both men, not least the quality of the punching and this almost ridiculous level of punch resistance. Time and again they took heavy shots and not only did they not back off, they stood their ground and almost immediately fired back. “There will be debate, discussion and dispute about the scorecards for years to come. “I had it 7-5 in rounds to Golovkin. The difference for me compared to the judges was in the first six rounds where I had him 4-2 up but all three judges had Canelo leading 4-2. “In a trawl through social media, Carl Frampton thought 'Triple-G' had won and WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford also did. “Leaving the arena, Roy Jones Jr explained to me that Canelo had fought the fight some didn't think he could. He said the Mexican had fought up close "in a phone booth" and that surprise strategy perhaps impressed the judges enough for them to favour him. “The last round was so key with two of the judges giving it to Canelo whereas the consensus ringside was that Golovkin had a good last round. So had those two judges given it to Golovkin then all three judges would have scored it a draw again. “There are those like Roy Jones Jr who said he did the crime and served the time allotted to him. “Ultimately, it is down to the authorities to really take some firm action. They missed an opportunity. I believe if they genuinely believed Canelo was guilty they missed the chance to ban him for a long time and that would have sent a message around the sport. “You can blame Canelo but you cannot blame him for the punishment as he served the six-month ban. “Here, he was so good. I've said in his career he has fought in patches but he was much more consistent. I didn't think he could fight for 36 minutes like that but his consistency was very impressive.”