The middleweight clash between Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez ended in a draw Saturday night in Las Vegas, leaving a packed T-Mobile Arena crowd jeering and both sides claiming victory.  

The bout was expected to be a slugfest and potentially a fight-of-the-year candidate, since neither man has been known to back down in the ring.

The action didn’t disappoint, even if the result did. GGG was attacking and marching forward the entire fight. Canelo was counterpunching and responding to about every attack.

After feeling each other out in the early rounds, Golovkin started to come on. He dominated the middle rounds, pinning Canelo’s back to the ropes on several occasions.

But Alvarez showed great defense, with head movement, parries and blocks that prevented GGG from getting his Big Drama Show going. In the fifth round, Canelo shook his head after several GGG shots that included a big right hand.

When Golovkin paused after a prolonged flurry, Alvarez walked off the ropes firing big power punches.

From the sixth round through the ninth, Golovkin appeared in control. But at the start of the 10th, Alvarez came on throwing combinations in the center of the ring and appearing to hurt Golovkin early.

GGG fired back, but didn’t seem to have much power.

In the championship rounds, Alvarez was more aggressive, but he never seemed to hurt Golovkin.

At the end of the fight, ring announcer Michael Buffer called out the scores, 118-110 for Alvarez, 115-113 for Golovkin and 114-114. Meanwhile, azcentral sports scored the fight 117-113 for Golovkin, seven rounds for GGG, three for Canelo and two rounds even. 

“I thought I won the fight. I was superior inside the ring,” Alvarez said after the fight. “I won at least seven  … eight of the rounds. I was able to counterpunch and even make Gennady Golovkin wobble a couple of times. It’s up to the people if we fight again, I feel frustrated over this draw.”

The decision wasn’t egregious, since it was a close fight, but Adalaide Byrd’s lopsided 118-110 scorecard in favor of Alvarez missed the mark.

Golovkin’s record is now 37-0-1. Alvarez moves to 49-1-2.

The 35-year-old Golovkin came into the fight holding belts from four different sanctioning organizations, including three of the most prominent four.  

But Alvarez, who is 27, has been recognized as the lineal middleweight champ since he defeated Miguel Cotto in 2015. The distinction doesn’t come with a belt, but aficionados consider it more meaningful.  

The split, plus the legitimate dominance each fighter has showed in recent years established demand for the match and opportunity for promotion.

Alvarez, during the build-up, said to Golovkin “you have the belts, but you’re a fake champion.”

Golovkin’s response was that he would see Canelo in the ring.

After the draw was announced, Golovkin said he wanted more. 

“Of course I want a rematch, this was a real fight,” he said. “Look I still have all the belts, I’m still the champion.” 

The fight was billed as “Supremacy,” but with the draw the fight didn’t live up to the promise. It’s still not clear who’s the top fighter at middleweight.

Aside from the top spot in one of boxing’s premier divisions, the match offered an opportunity for each fighter to add something significant to his legacy in front of more than 23,000 people.

Golovkin, a native of Kazakhstan who trains in Big Bear, California, has made a case for himself as one of his generation’s top fighters. He went on a nine-year, 23-fight knock-out streak, during which he stopped a who’s who of top contenders at middleweight.

But he hadn’t had an iconic win or top-tier rivalry to elevate him past boxing into mainstream stardom.

Alvarez, meanwhile, turned pro as a teenager and won a world title when he was 21 years old, defeating Matthew Hatton in 2011. He’s since turned himself into a star, defeating the likes of Cotto, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

But each of his largest wins carried a caveat. Cotto was said to be too old. Kahn, too small. And Chavez hardly put up a fight. He needed a victory that couldn’t be impugned with a “yeah, but …”

The draw sets up a rematch, but it remains to be seen if or when that gets worked out.

After the fight, a clearly disappointed Golovkin called the decision “terrible for boxing.”

Alvarez, meanwhile, said through a translator “scorecards aside, we gave boxing a great fight tonight. … Boxing wins, the fans win. And if the fans want to see it again, we’ll do it again.”

Reach Moore at [email protected] or 602-444-2236. Follow him at www.twitter.com/WritingMoore.