By Scott Gilfoid: Liam Smith was blasted out in nine rounds last Saturday night in losing his WBO junior middleweight title to #1 WBO Saul Canelo Alvarez at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Smith was outgunned from the very first round of the fight by the younger, faster, stronger and smarter Canelo Alvarez.
The only chance Smith had in the fight was to throw a lot of punches and force Canelo to fight for a full three minutes of every round. Smith proved incapable of doing that though, as he only fought in spurts and gave Canelo plenty of rest breaks.
By Patrick McHugh: After his 12 round unanimous decision win over #10 WBO middleweight fringe contender Gabriel Rosado (23-10, 13 KOs) last Saturday night, #14 WBO Willie Monroe Jr. (21-2, 6 KOs) is now saying that he’s earned a fight against fellow Golden Boy Promotions fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and he’s ready to get that fight in December on HBO.
Monroe Jr., 29, defeated Rosado by the scores 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. In truth, neither fighter looked good. Monroe won, but it wasn’t the kind of fight where it created any demand from the boxing public to see the southpaw Monroe fighting Canelo in September or any time in the future.
By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya says he’s convinced that his fighter Saul Canelo Alvarez will be fighting unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin next September, possibly at the 80,000 seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. De La Hoya says he’s just waiting for Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler to call him back and start negotiating with him.
De La Hoya says there’s an eight-figure offer [$10 million] on the table for Golovkin if he agrees to fight Canelo next year in September. De La Hoya doesn’t say what percentage Golovkin would be receiving of the overall revenue of the fight. Eight figures sounds like a nice payday, but it depends on what Canelo is going to be getting for the fight. If Canelo is getting $90 million compared to Golovkin’s $10 million, then it’s not such a great deal.
By Eric Baldwin: Surprisingly, the final punch stat numbers from last Saturday night’s contest between WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez were fairly close for their fight at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Canelo knocked out Smith in the 9th round with a left to the body that had the British fighter rolling around in pain on the canvas in front of 51,240 fans.
What separated the two fighters was the power from Canelo’s shots, as he was simply the much stronger fighter of the two due to his weight and strength advantage. Smith tried his best, but he was too weak and outweighed by Canelo last night.
We don’t what the weight difference was between the two fighters, but it looked to me like Canelo was at least 10 pounds heavier than Smith.
Canelo connected on 157 of 422 punches for a connect percentage of 37, according to CompuBox. For his part, Smith landed 115 of 403 punches for a connect rate of 29%.
The main difference between the two fighters was the power on their shots. You can’t blame Smith for not being able to punch with the same authority that Canelo was hitting with, because it was a natural middleweight against a natural junior middleweight last night.
By Scott Gilfoid: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya says he made an offer to unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) over 30 days ago for a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs), but he never heard back from the Kazakhstan fighter. De La Hoya doesn’t say how much the offer was for GGG, but Canelo revealed last Saturday night after his 9th round knockout win over WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs) that the offer was for over twice the amount that Golovkin had ever received for a fight in his career.
I believe that Golovkin’s biggest payday thus far is $2 million. If he’s now being offered $4 million for a fight that could bring in a huge amount of money, then that doesn’t sound like a great deal, does it? Canelo gets a tremendous payday of possibly $20 million or higher and Golovkin perhaps little more than $4 million.
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.
By Dan Ambrose: Following his 9th round knockout win tonight over Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs), newly crowned World Boxing Organization junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) says his promoters at Golden Boy promotions have made an offer to IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) for a fight at the full weight for the 160lb division.
By Eric Baldwin: Using his big size advantage, the red-headed Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs) by a 9th round knockout on Saturday night to capture his WBO title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Canelo, 26, knocked Smith down three times in the fight in dropping him once in the 7th, 8th and 9th rounds. The fight was halted after Canelo knocked Smith down with a right to the body in the 9th that had the British fighter rolling around in pain.
Canelo vs. Smith, a 12-round fight for the WBO Junior Middleweight World Championship, is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Frank Warren and Canelo Promotions. Gabriel Rosado vs. Willie Monroe, Jr. is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Banner Promotions and Diego De La Hoya vs. Luis Orlando Del Valle is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Roc Nation Sports.
By Scott Gilfoid: It’s not looking good for WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith for his title defense tonight against Saul “Caneo” Alvarez, but former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is giving Smith a chance of winning under the right circumstances.
Froch thinks that if Smith, 28, can attack Canelo to the body early, he’ll have a chance of pulling off the upset. Froch believes that Canelo will win the fight though unless Smith can land the perfect body shot.
