LAS VEGAS –Welcome back, Canelo Alvarez.
A perceived slide was interrupted, if not halted altogether, Saturday night with Canelo’s thorough victory over Jermell Charlo in front of a Showtime pay-per-view audience and a roaring crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
Other than a knockout, Canelo did it all. He didn’t tire in the end. He reasserted his documented power, forcing Charlo to take a knee with a huge right hand in the seventh. He had Charlo and his doubters in retreat throughout 12 rounds.
For months, the argument was that Canelo’s 18-year career in the prize-fighting ring was over. It was as if somebody had jammed Canelo’s skillset into a barrel and shipped it to the dump. But there were signs throughout the last week that Canelo had redefined himself, his body and his career.
“Nobody is going to beat this Canelo,” he said .
The one-sided scores — 118-109, 119-108, 118-109 — were just one measure of how dominant Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) was in his fight to stop the slide. Charlo (35-2-1, 15 KOs) simply had no chance.
“I don’t make excuses for myself,” Charlos said. “it is what is is.”
One question will linger. Charlo, an undisputed champion at junior-middleweight, was fighting for the first at super-middle, a division Canelo has long ruled.
Charlo jumped two weight classes. He was feeling super-middleweight power for the first time. The question will be there until Canelo faces a true super-middleweight. That might be David Benavidez, the unbeaten super-middleweight from Phoenix.
First, Benavidez has to beat Demetrius Andrade. 15 Rounds confirmed with promoter Tom Brown that Benavidez will fight Andrade on November 25 in San Antonio. The World Boxing Council aso is planning to address Canelo’s next mandatory defense at its convention in November in Uzbekistan, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told 15 Rounds. The Benavidez-Andrade winner might get a mandatory shot at Canelo.
But nothing is ever certain. Welterweight champion Terence Crawford, the undisputed pound-for-pound No. 1 after his blowout of Errol Spence, has talked about facing Canelo at a catchweight. Crawford was in the crowd Saturday.
“We can;t rule on what we don;t know,” Sulaiman said. “We can only deal with the facts.”
For now, here’s one:
Canelo is back.
Lubin wins unanimous decision for a fight that only earns boos
A firefight was the promise. But there was no fire. Not much of a fight, either. Instead there were boos.
A gathering crowd for the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo fight Saturday night turned into a storm of discontent at a bout that had been projected to be a significant junior-middleweight match.
But the Erickson Lubin-Jesus Ramos bout was a dud in the final Showtime pay-per-view bout before Canelo-Charlo at T-Mobile Arena.
For 12 rounds, Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) moved forward, chasing a backpedaling Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs). If it weren’t for ropes that kept him in the ring, Ramos would have been chasing Lubin down the Vegas Strip. Lubin would not engage.
But he did enough backpedaling to convince the judges. All three scored it in his favor. It was 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111. All for Lubin. The decision was unanimous. So was the crowd’s discontent.
Lubin looked surprised when the scores were announced. Ramos, a 22-year-old Arizona fighter from Casa Grande, looked
stunned. After Lubin stopped backpedaling enough to be interviewed in the ring, his answers couldn’t be heard above the roar of boos.
“I’m one of the top dogs,” he said after a dog fight.
Meanwhile, Ramos was left to deal with one of boxing’s lessons. Lousy decisions are like scars. Everybody has one.
“I’ll move on and deal with this loss,” said the young fighter who came into the ring amid expectations that he had a chance to be one of boxing’s next great champions.
All he has now is a loss. And maybe a lesson.
Barrios scores decision over a bloodied Ugas
In the end, it belonged to Mario Barrios, who scored a decision — unanimous and contentious — over Yordenis Ugas Saturday night on the Showtime pay-per-view telecast of the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-versus-Jermell Charlo at T-Mobile Arena
Barrios (28-3, 18 KOS), a San Antonio welterweight, scored two knockdowns of Ugas (27-6, 12 KOs), a Cuban best known for ending Manny Pacquiao’s legendary career.
A left jab put Ugas down in the second. He was down again in the twelfth. Twice, the ringside doctor looked at his bloodied eyes. Each time, the fight was allowed to continue. But there was never much of a chance that Ugas could win. By A lucky punch? Maybe.
But Barrios had too much energy and more precision in his punches. Ugas was just hanging on for an end that would go against him. It did. He lost on all three cards, 118-107, 117-108, 118-107..
Elijah Garcia delivers TKO victory in his “toughest” fight
There were questions in the beginning. Then, there were lessons, sharply delivered and still there to learn. In the end, there was some perfection.
For emerging middleweight Elijah Garcia, still a student of the game, it was a fight full of just about everything. From aspirations to possibilities, it was all there.
Above all, Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) stayed unbeaten and on track to accomplish an ambitious goal with an eighth-round TKO of Armando Resenediz Saturday in the first Showtime pay-per-view bout on the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
“It was really a hard fight,” said Garcia, a 20-year-old Arizona fighter who wants to be a 21-year-old middleweight champion. “It was my toughest, yeah 100 percent.”
They’ll get tougher. A lot tougher. There’s no other way to get to that middleweight title. But he’s still there, perhaps on the fast track, mostly because of what he continued to prove. His power is deadly and he sustains it. Without it, he might be dealing with his first defeat.
But it was alway there and always accurate enough to stagger, stun and then wear out the gritty Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs).
The Phoenix born left-hander, who continues to wear 602 — the PHX area code — stitched onto the belt buckle of his trunks — set the tone in the opening round, buckling Resendiz at the knees with a big left hand.
But Resendiz, stubborn and brave, would not go away. For the next few rounds, Resendiz tirelessly moved forward and relentlessly threw straight-handed punches. They landed, again and again. The evidence was in the reddening skin around Garcia’s eyes. Garcia was dropping his hands, especially his left. Sometimes, it was down at his hip. It was risky against Resendiz. Against a middleweight champion, it could be deadly. A lesson still to be learned.
For now, Garcia’s power prevails. Within Resendiz’ busy style, there was no counter for it . There was only an inevitable end and It came at about two minutes of the eighth round, delivered by a sequence of punches that were a thing of beauty. Garcia put together three punches, almost seamlessly. First, Gracia landed a left to Resendiz’s body. Then, he followed with a right to the body. Then, there was the finishing touch, a right to the head. It was all done with a certain rhythm that ended in Resendiz crashing to the canvas.
About 30 seconds later, referee Tony Weeks saw a dazed and defenseless Resendiz. Wisely, Weeks ended it at 2:33 of the eighth round of a fight that included a statement, punctuated by three perfectly delivered punches that summed up Garcia’s potential.
Frank Sanchez wins fourth-round stoppage
Frank Sanchez has more than just heavyweight power. He’s a quick thinker.
He had to be against Scott Alexander Saturday night on the Caneo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo card Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Alexander (17-6-2, 9 KOs) of Los Angeles, quicky showed that he was more than just another opponent. He threw a head-rocking right hand, a wake-up call in the first round
Sanchez’ response was immediate. The merging contender from Cuba countered with his own right, staggering Alexander with a blow that delivered a preview of what was to come.
In the second round, Sanchez (23-0 16 KOs) knocked down Alexander. In the fourth, he did it again. But this one finished Alexander, who was slow to get up and wobbly when he did, a loser by TKO late in the fourth
Gausha wins majority decision
Terrell Gausha took another step toward turning his loss to Tim Tszyu into a fading memory.
He beat KeAndrae Leatherwood.
But it wasn’t easy.
Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs) a middleweight from Cleveland, found himself caught up in a slow-paced bout with an awkward Leatherwood (39-1, 13 KOs), of Tuscaloosa AL, in an eight-round middleweight bout on the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo.
A cautious Leatherwood was content to hold , but never engage Gausha. That made the fight hard to score.
Gausha, an Olympian who lost a unanimous decision to Tszyu in March 2022, won a majority decision. He was a 78-74 winner on two cards. The third judge scored it a draw.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk back with quick KO
Former light-heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk says he’s ready for Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
He won’t get an argument from Isaac Rodrigues.
In his third comeback fight this year, Gvozdyk (20-1, 15 KOs) continued to work on restoring his world-class skills with crushing second round knockout of Rodrigues (28-5, 22 KOs) in the the third fight on the Canelo-Charlo undercard, Gvozdyk, a Ukrainian, is working his way back after he retired following a punishing loss to Beterbiev in October 2019 in Philadelphia.
Rodrigues’ 22 stoppages suggested that he might be dangerous. He wasn’t. Midway through the second, Gvozdyk, who calls himself “The Nail”, hammered him with a couple of precise punches. Rodrigues, of Brazil, had to be helped out of the ring. Middleweights fight to forgettable draw
It was a draw. Dull,too
A crowd might been bored by a forgettable middleweight bout between Abilkhan Amankul (4-0-1, 4 KOs), of Kazakhstan, and Joeshen James (7-0-2, 4 KOs) , of Sacramento, in the second bout on the Canelo-Charlo card. But there was nobody at T-Mobile to bore.
One card favored Amankul, 39-37. On the other two, it was, yawn 38-38.
First Bell: Canelo-Charlo card opens with crushing KO
Call it a power lunch.
Gabriel Valenzuela brought all the power, He opened the show about six hours before the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo main event Saturday. He dropped Yeis Gabriel Solano three times. Nobody noticed.That’s because nobody was there for the matinee opener to a 12 fight card at T-Mobile Arena.
It was over when Valenzuela (27-3-1, 17 KOs), of Mexico, sent Solano (15-3, 10 KOs), of Colombia, crashing onto the canvas, a knockout victim at 2:33 of the sixth round. An unconscious Solano remained on the canvas, surrounded by echoes, for several seconds until hs cornermen helped up and out of the ring.