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The Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez fight ended in a controversial draw. The two fighters are pictured at the T-Mobile Arena on September 16, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images

The highly-anticipated bout between middleweight boxers Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez lived up to the hype it generated Saturday night. It failed to produce a winner, however, with one judge sparking controversy with her scorecard.

Officials in Las Vegas ruled the fight at the T-Mobile Arena a draw, and Golovkin (37-0-1) kept his three middleweight titles, World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, and International Boxing Federation, thanks to the ruling. Judge Adalaide Byrd scored the match 118-110 in favor of Alvarez (49-1-2), while judge Dave Moretti gave it 115-113 for Golovkin and Don Trella awarded it a 114-114 tie.

"I want to thank my fans and of course I want the rematch," Golovkin told reporters after the fight. "This was a real fight. I still have the belts and I’m still champion.

The ruling sparked controversy as many believed the fight was close, except for Byrd — who presented a largely lopsided scorecard in Alvarez’s favor. Certainly, Alvarez delivered an onslaught early on, but spectators and fans considered Byrd’s 118-110 scorecard, which awarded just the fourth and seventh rounds to Glovokin, — to be divisive.

"I thought I won the fight. I was superior inside the ring. I won at least seven, eight of the rounds," Alvarez said via translator after the fight. "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 fighters exchanged thunderous blows throughout the rounds, although in the latter half of the fight, Alvarez managed to thwart Glovokin’s assault with crafty counter-shots. It seemed to be hard to call, which is what most spectators and experts suggested. Twitter roundly criticized Byrd, whose scorecards have raised eyebrows in the past. The internet seemingly questioned her ability to judge.

Byrd apparently has delivered questionable results in the past. In May, she scored Alvarez's one-sided victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. with a 120–108 card and during Alvarez's sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan in 2016, she had it 48–47 in favor of Khan before he collapsed.

In November 2016, Top Rank vice president of Boxing Operations Carl Moretti said that promoters asked the Nevada Athletic Commission to prevent Byrd from judging the Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Nicholas Walters on Nov 27., which was a wish that officials never granted.

"We respectfully requested that Adalaide Byrd not be assigned to this fight," Moretti told Boxing Scene. "From there it went on to a conversation [with NSAC executive director Bob Bennett] about how she is a good judge. Some judges can have good nights and can have bad nights. But when she has bad nights, she seems to be too far away from the score. Bob defended her left and right. He didn’t wanna listen to our objection."

"I’m not saying she’s picking the wrong fighters winning the fights," Moretti added. "But you just can’t look at Santana-Benavidez and say it’s 10-0. It just wasn’t that type of fight. She also had Austin Trout beating Cotto 11-1."

Byrd started her career as a boxing judge in 1997. Over her 20-year career, she has judged many major fights and is frequently used by Golden Boy Promotions. The Golovkin-Alvarez fight marked the 442nd fight of her officiating career.