October 01, (THEWILL) – Canelo Alvarez put on a masterclass performance on Saturday night, defeating Jermell Charlo by unanimous decision to retain his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO super middleweight championships.
The fight took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in front of a packed crowd. Alvarez controlled the action from start to finish, knocking Charlo down in the 7th round en route to winning by scores of 119-108, 118-109 and 118-109 on the judges’ scorecards.
Moving up two weight classes from 154 to 168 pounds, Charlo struggled to match Alvarez’s power and was forced to fight back up for much of the bout. Despite his superior hand speed, Charlo had difficulty finding openings against the slick Mexican star. Alvarez relentlessly attacked Charlo’s body throughout the fight, wearing him down before scoring the knockdown in the 7th with a right hand to the head followed by a body shot.
The loss was just the second defeat of Charlo’s accomplished career, while Alvarez improved his record to 60-2-2 with the win. At 33 years of age, Alvarez showed no signs of slowing down, crediting his intense training camp at high elevation for his stamina late in the fight. For Charlo, the jump up in weight proved too big of a challenge against Canelo’s strength and skill.
Following the win, Alvarez stated his intention to return to the ring on Cinco de Mayo for his next bout with WBC mandatory challenger, David Benavidez, waiting in the wings. For now, Canelo remains firmly on top of the super middleweight division after turning in another masterful performance. After coming up short, Charlo aims to move back down to 154 pounds for his next fight against Terence Crawford. He showed his trademark toughness against Alvarez and vowed to come back strong from the defeat. Meanwhile, the ageless Alvarez marches on as the undisputed king of the 168-pound weight class.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
