Canelo Alvarez Dominates Jermell Charlo In Unification Bout

The combination floored an already reeling Charlo, who was able to beat the 8-count given by referee, Harvey Dock, however Charlo was unable to sustain any type of offensive attack. Early on, it was apparent that Charlo was showing the Mexican legend too much respect as he was reluctant to punch, while absorbing several hard body shots and looping right hands. Canelo’s relentless pressure, steady footwork, and calmness allowed him to gain a huge early lead, that Charlo was never able to penetrate. The leap in weight seemed to be too much and it was clear that Jermell bit off more than he can chew. To add salt to the wound for Charlo, he was stripped of his WBO junior middleweight title prior to the fight, technically removing the title of “undisputed” from his name. 

Following the fight, Canelo proclaimed that this version of himself is unbeatable stating, “I’m a strong fighter all the time, against all fighters. I’m a strong man. Nobody can beat this Canelo,” said a confident Canelo in media reports. While Canelo sounded sure of himself, his opponent was left searching for answers, “I just felt like I wasn’t me in there. I don’t make excuses for myself, so it is what it is. I take my punches and roll with it. It’s boxing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” stated a dejected Jermell Charlo. As for what’s next for the two combatants, Canelo looks to return on his usual coveted Cinco De Mayo date. There doesn’t appear to be a frontrunner for who his next opponent will be, although one has to take a serious look at the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade winner as leading candidates, with those two appearing to be crossing paths later this year. “I’ll face whoever,” said Canelo during his post-fight interview with Jim Gray. 

While a more animated Jermell Charlo says he plans to move back down to 154 pounds, and called out boxing’s Pound for Pound best, Terence Crawford. “Truthfully, you can feel the difference in the weight. I jumped up 14 pounds. I’m undisputed in my division. I was daring to be great right now. You fall short sometimes, but you gotta keep on pushing. My road don’t stop right here… I’m down to fight whoever. I wanna fight Terence Crawford. I can fight Terence Crawford at my weight division. I know he’s somewhere around this joint.” A potential silver lining for Charlo last night was, his on again and off again relationship with his twin brother Jermall seems to at least for the moment could be back on again, as the elder brother showed up to support and was even spotted in the locker room prior to the fight embracing his younger brother. 

While boxing’s biggest events of the year [Spence-Crawford], [Alvarez-Charlo], and [Davis-Garcia] didn’t live up to the in-ring expectations, these events promotions and fanfare were just what the doctor ordered for the sport of boxing. Fighter’s willing to take risks, face the best, while daring to be great. The sport seems to be trending in the right direction. Canelo-Charlo proved that there are weight classes for a reason, as the fight fell in line with a list of guys who skipped weight classes only to provide a subpar performance come fight time. Mikey Garcia against Errol Spence Jr. comes to mind as well as Guillermo Rigondeaux’s lackluster performance against Vasyl Lomachenko. Canelo also proved that despite being 33 years of age and having 64 fights, he’s still one of the top guys in the sport and that there is no stage too big for the Mexican legend!