By Sal Arteaga: Las Vegas, NV – The King, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez tamed the mighty lion Jermell Charlo, winning a 12-round decision convincingly. According to Compubox, Canelo landed nearly double the total punches landed by Charlo (134 to 71) and dominated him physically, landing 40 percent of his power punches.
It was a fight that saw few exchanges as Charlo seemed content in surviving the match with as little punishment as possible. Jermell employed a strategy of constant movement, utilizing the entire ring to escape from dangerous exchanges with Canelo.
Jermell Charlo had the right strategy in using movement to frustrate Canelo, but he did not throw or connect enough to make it a competitive match. Canelo made the most of his limited opportunities connecting on the exchanges Charlo did allow him and was able to score a knockdown in the 7th round.
Canelo Alvarez stated, “I worked the whole fight on going to the body, and then I changed it up. That’s what happens when you change the punch,” scoring the knockdown. Had Charlo engaged more, he would have suffered more punishment and may not have survived the full 12 rounds.
Canelo dominated the match, and his performance could potentially silence the critics who believe he’s lost a step and isn’t the Canelo who overtook the super middleweight division in 2019. All judges scored unanimously for Canelo, with one judge scoring it decisively 119-108 and the other two seeing it the same at 118-109.
Who Canelo faces next on May 5th will be interesting as there are many potential opponents who are savoring what Canelo calls, “A Payday.” Will find out soon who will be the winner in the Canelo sweepstakes. There are many sweepstake participants: Terence Crawford, Jermall Charlo, Caleb Plant (rematch), Jaime Munguia, and David Benavidez.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku8W23zI32A&pp=ygUPc2hvd3RpbWUgYm94aW5n