Good, bad, worse: Canelo Alvarez gets the job done once again
A critical look at the past week in boxing
GOOD
We can be critical of Canelo Alvarez’s performance against Billy Joe Saunders before 73,126 Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Mexican star had his hand raised, as almost everyone expected, but Saunders’ pre-fight bravado wasn’t all talk. There was some substance to it. He trailed on the cards – 78-74, 78-74 and 77-75 – at the time the fight was stopped but he was competitive, which was surprising to many.
Alvarez actually seemed frustrated as late as the seventh round, when the British southpaw was at his most effective. The result was still up in the air at that point.
This was the great Canelo Alvarez? Struggling with a fighter who is capable but can’t punch with much authority?
I believe it’s legitimate to point out all of the above. This must be said too, though: Alvarez broke Saunders’ face with a single punch – a right uppercut to the right eye — and stopped him after eight rounds, the latter of which he predicted.
Alvarez said multiple times beforehand that he would have problems against Saunders in the early rounds but by the middle of the fight he would begin to take control.
That what’s he did. He brutally knocked out an experienced, world-class opponent to unify three of the four major super middleweight titles, which should lead to a showdown with Caleb Plant for the fourth belt around Mexican Independence Day in September.
“I said the fight was going to develop in the seventh, eighth round and that’s what happened,” Alvarez said through a translator. “It wasn’t as difficult as I expected. That’s because my preparation was good. And I improve every day.
“… I started getting adjusted real quick. I knew this was going to be the final outcome.”
All in all, he had a good night.
Related
Canelo Alvarez's free agency boosts chances of fight with Caleb Plant: Hearn
Canelo Alvarez: Billy Joe Saunders would've risked life had he continued
Canelo Alvarez tested by Billy Joe Saunders but stops him after eight
***
BAD
You have to feel for Saunders.
The British champion gave Alvarez a tougher fight than almost anyone expected only to have his dream dashed as a result of an unfortunate eye-socket injury, which made it next-to-impossible to continue.
The judges had Alvarez ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage but Saunders was in the fight and seemed to be building momentum before the injury. He had a chance to win. Then it was over. He couldn’t continue fighting, he suffered the first loss of his career and his 168-pound title was gone.
It’s no wonder he looked devasted after the fight.
Saunders has reason to be proud, though. He was competitive against the fighter many believe is No. 1 pound-for-pound in the world, which few others have been able to do.
Floyd Mayweather is the only one to have beaten Alvarez while Gennadiy Golovkin (SD draw and MD), Erislandy Lara (SD), Daniel Jacobs (UD) and even Sergey Kovalev (KO 11) fought him on roughly even terms before coming up short in the end.
Saunders arguably joins that latter group. At the very least, he was far more competitive than the previous six British fighters who faced Alvarez. All of them were blown out in one way or another.
And, at 31, Saunders is still young. He might never again have the opportunity to face a pound-for-pounder in front of 70,000-plus screaming fans, as he did on Saturday, but he’s far from finished. He’ll be in more big fights in the near future, assuming that’s what he wants.
Saunders obviously is in pain right now, both physically and emotionally. The wounds will heal, though. And he’ll be a more-respected fighter as a result of his performance on Saturday night.
***
WORSE
Katsunari Takayama gave an inspirational performance on the Alvarez-Saunders card. Veteran referee Laurence Cole, who worked Takayama’s fight against 108-pound titleholder Elwin Soto, was not at his best.
Takayama (32-9, 12 KOs) was a great story coming into the fight. The 37-year-old former three-time strawweight champ from Japan was fighting for the second time after a four-year hiatus from the sport and took the fight on short notice, which would’ve made a title-winning victory remarkable.
And he gave himself a chance to pull it off, fighting with unusual energy and spirit against a much stronger opponent. Soto (19-1, 13 KOs) landed many clean, hard punches but Takayama took them and was the much busier of the two. He clearly was in the fight until the moment it was stopped.
In the ninth and final round, with Soto winning on the cards, the champion continued to land damaging blows but Takayama continued to fight back. Still, out of nowhere, Cole jumped in and stopped the fight at 2:44 of the round, raising the ire of many in the process.
I don’t want to be overly critical of a referee who was looking out for the best interest of a fighter but, frankly, Cole blew it. Takayama hadn’t been down and was firing back at Soto when Cole stepped in.
Plus, Takayama was a proud former champion in possibly his final title fight. He deserved more of a chance than Cole gave him to work his way out of trouble, if that’s what that was.
Immediately after the fight was stopped, Takayama, who accepted his fate graciously, shadow boxed in the ring with great vitality as if to demonstrate that he had plenty left in the tank. I wondered whether Cole, who watched Takayama, was thinking at that moment: “Man, he’s making me look bad right now.”
Indeed, he was. Cole should’ve allowed the fight to continue.
Related
Elwin Soto stops Katsunari Takayama in ninth round
***
RABBIT PUNCHES
Saunders could’ve continued fighting. Countless others have fought through significant injuries, including those to the eye area. But we should use common sense here. Mark Tibbs, Saunders’ trainer, said his fighter’s face was “caved in” and that he couldn’t see. Would it really have been wise to continue exchanging punches with a beast like Alvarez? Saunders’ courage would’ve been applauded but he would’ve risked long term damage or possibly even his life – as Alvarez said – had he come out for the ninth round. That would be asking to much. … I had Alvarez leading Saunders 78-74 – six rounds to two – at the time of the stoppage. Some experts I respect had Saunders ahead, which has me scratching my head. Saunders was busier than Alvarez but half the punches he landed were jabs and his power punches had little effect, although he did better in that regard in the last few rounds. Alvarez obviously landed the cleaner, harder shots. I thought Alvarez clearly won Rounds 2, 3 and 8, which means Saunders would have to had to win the remaining rounds to lead on the cards. That doesn’t add up to me. … Alvarez was unusually animated when middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade showed up at the post-fight news conference to call him out, telling Andrade in English more than once to “get the f— out of here.” I appreciated Alvarez passion but I was disappointed at his repeated use of expletives. I thought he was classier than that.
I’m completely baffled by the scoring of the Souleymane Cissokho–Kieron Conway fight on the Alvarez-Saunders card. I thought the Cissokho (13-0, 8 KOs) thoroughly outboxed Conway (16-2-1, 3 KOs), with a ninth-round knockdown his only significant slip-up. Conway was the aggressor but he landed few punches. That’s why I scored it 98-91 (nine rounds to one) for the Frenchman. The judges? They gave Cissokho a split-decision victory, 96-93, 95-94 and 92-97. I guess Conway could’ve been given one or two more rounds because he pushed the action but 97-92? Judge Don Griffin’s score was outrageous. … Speaking of outrageous, Nagy Aguilera’s actions in his fight against heavyweight contender Frank Sanchez (18-0, 13 KOs) on the Alvarez-Saunders card were suspect. Sanchez, who was in control of the fight, threw a right hand that slid off of Aguilera’s left shoulder and grazed his head. After a few moments he suddenly grabbed his head, fell to the canvas, got up, fell again and then got to his feet once more in a circus-like series of events. He began to complain that the former Cuban amateur star had been punching him behind the head throughout the fight. It seemed to me that Aguilera (21-11, 14 KOs) was looking for a way out of the fight and found it. Sanchez won a shutout technical decision.
