You could easily be forgiven for failing to notice that this fight even took place. For the casual boxing fan, Saturday night/Sunday morning’s contest between Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez largely slipped in under the radar. It is very rare that such a mammoth, multiple world-title clash between two fighters widely renowned as the two best not only in their division, but in the world, has such a low international media profile. If we were to recall the last time a fight of this stature between the two best pound-for-pound fighters on earth took place, we would have to look back at the clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in May 2015. Yet, at the time those fighters were somewhat past their most productive years, while in Las Vegas this weekend, we saw two men at the height of their power and at the top of their sport on a collision course for the centre of the ring. All of this begs the question: how did the fight not attract similar audiences?

“There was no ridiculous press-conference tour, no homophobic slurs thrown at one another, no need to sell the fight as anything other than a potentially legendary boxing contest”

A large part of the answer can be found in the aforementioned Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. This was billed as the fight of the century, and to a certain extent, rightly so, as the world had been waiting years for this meeting of two of the greatest boxers of all time. However, the build up was dominated by talk of the purse that the two fighters would split from the clash, and this somewhat overshadowed the fact that not only were the two men past their best (age was a questioning factor and Pacquiao had been largely focused at the time on his political career in his native Philippines), but also that this was unlikely to be a classic spectacle, simply due to Mayweather’s defensive style.

Indeed, many of Floyd’s critics held the opinion that he feared losing his unbeaten record to Pacquiao during his peak, hence why he avoided him, and that he could only be eventually lured out to fight him with the promise of a pay-day of over $100 million. It was widely assumed that he would never fight again after that victory, yet he strapped on his gloves last month to take on Irish MMA star, Conor McGregor. Whereas the possibility of a great contest appeared to be a possibility with the Pacquiao fight, the same could not be said here. It would seem that the promise of an even more lucrative purse to fight a man with no record in professional boxing was too good to turn down, despite many experts writing off any likelihood of a competitive bout.

Mayweather and his team clearly knew this, leading to a genius promotion strategy from them, Dana White and the MMA, that created organized chaos in the form of a media circus from the moment the fight was announced. In an unusual move, the decision to hold a series of ‘hype’ press conferences in Los Angeles, Toronto, New York and London weeks before the fight created an unprecedented level of global interest. Knowing full well that intrigue in a cross-code fight would only get them so far in terms of a pay-per-view audience, the two fighters resorted to weeks of vulgarity and showmanship that captivated millions, a long, drawn out process that convinced people into thinking that the highly contested war of words would lead to an equally competitive battle in the ring.

For all theses reasons, the Golovkin-Álvarez fight was just the shot in the arm the sport needed. On one hand, its timing could have been better in order for it not to be overshadowed by last month’s clash, but on the other, it came just as it was needed in order to remind the world of what boxing is truly about. There was no ridiculous press-conference tour, no homophobic slurs thrown at one another, no need to sell the fight as anything other than a potentially legendary boxing contest. Both men are humble and had nothing but respect for each other’s abilities. Money was not the motivating factor that it has been for so long now – the guaranteed purse was an estimated $5 million for Alvarez and $3 million for Golovkin – their main interest was besting their rival in order to be crowned the best fighter in the world.

For sure, the encounter was not perfect as it endured its fair share of controversy, but it was the kind of controversy that makes sport captivating. Most experts had Golovkin down as the winner by the tightest of margins, yet we were all shocked when judge Adalaide Byrd’s card read 118-110 in favour of Álvarez, thus rendering the contest a draw following the other two cards reading 114-114 and 115-113 to Golovkin. While infuriating, the controversy of human error is part and parcel of sport and an element that brings drama and entertainment to the table. It is much more beneficial than standing on a stage and belittling your opponent to the point where accusations of racism and homophobia can be heard.

For certain, trash-talking and media hype have always been an intrinsic part of combat sports. After all, it was one way in which the great Muhammad Ali captivated such a large audience. Yet he earned his legendary status by backing up his wit with classic performances in contests against the best in the world that still live strong in the memory today. After we were goaded into watching a non-contest inside the ring by events that took place outside of it, it was refreshing to see two men go about their business in the right way; going toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring and not a press conference, trading devastating blows in a clash that will likely lead to a rematch and another encounter which should entertain for all the right reasons