By Patrick McHugh: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) used precise body punching to stop WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs) in the 9th round last Saturday night in front of 51,240 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
It was a good performance from the 26-year-old Canelo in knocking Smith down three times in the fight. However, if there were some noticeable flaws in Canelo’s game that could lead to problems for him down the road when/if he eventually faces unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in 2017 or later. Canelo’s stamina looked poor, as he spent much of the second half of the contest backed against the ropes, resting.
I’m sure Canelo will say that he did that as part of the fight strategy, but I don’t think it was that way at all. Canelo looked red-faced and tired when he was backed against the ropes. The only reason Smith, 28, couldn’t take advantage of Canelo’s stamina problems was because he wasn’t throwing punches.
Canelo claimed to have hurt his right hand in the 2nd round, so he might use that as excuse for why he spent so much time against the ropes. However, Canelo looked really tired much of the time from the 5th round on, and I don’t think for a second that he fought with his back against the ropes due it being part of his game plan for the fight.
Here are the flaws that I saw in Canelo’s game last night:
– MAJOR stamina issues
– Not punching in between his opponent’s shots. Canelo unable to punch while being attacked by Smith. Each time Smith would go after Canelo in landing shots, Canelo would turtle up and wait until Smith stopped throwing punches before he would open up with his own shots. If Canelo waits for Golovkin to stop throwing punches before he lets his own hands go, he’ll be picking himself up off the canvas. Canelo can’t afford to wait for Golovkin to stop throwing punches before he lets his own shots fly, because he’ll wind up getting pummeled.
– Fighting off the ropes. Canelo spent too much time against the ropes last night and not staying in the center of the ring. Golovkin would absolutely destroy Canelo if he fights like this against him.
Canelo said this after the fight:
“Thank you all for being here. We had a big victory for Mexico. It was a big motivation. Texas fans are the best. I felt comfortable on the ropes we trained for that in the gym. We knew he was tough. He was a champ for a reason and came to fight which is good because we were able to give the fans a great fight. When I hit him to the body I knew I hurt him…I hope everything is OK with my thumb. I injured it in round two. Tomorrow I’ll see the doctor. I will sit with my team.”
Canelo’s hand injury could get in the way of him fighting in December on HBO. Canelo could be fighting Willie Monroe Jr. for that fight. I can’t imagine too many boxing fans being broken up if Canelo decides not to fight in December against Monroe. Canelo needs to upgrade his opposition in the worst way, because fighting guys like Amir Khan, Liam Smith, and now Willie Monroe Jr. is kind of a joke in my opinion. If he doesn’t have the interest in fighting Golovkin, then he should just admit it and stick with fighting the Khans and Smiths of the boxing world.