Alvarez stops Charlo short
Jermall Charlo promised he was different than any other fighter Canelo Alvarez had ever faced in the ring. Instead, he left with a loss like 59 other Alvarez opponents.
The undisputed super middleweight champion was too much for the undisputed junior middleweight champ, winning a unanimous decision 119108, 118-109 and 118-109 Saturday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs), who grew up in Alief and currently lives in Richmond, jumped up two weight classes from 154 to 168 pounds for the biggest fight of his career. Two judges gave him the nod in rounds 5 and 9, while one judge only gave him round 9. Although Charlo was on the wrong end most of the night, he only seemed hurt once when Alvarez staggered him with a looping overhand right that forced Charlo to take a knee and gather himself.
“Truthfully, I could feel the difference in the weight,” Charlo said. “I jumped up 14 pounds. I am undisputed in my weight division. I was daring to be great. You fall short sometimes, but you just have to keep on pushing. My roll don’t stop right here. I’m proud of myself. He hit me with some hard shots, but I thought I got mine off.”
Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) put Charlo on the defensive early with his signature hooks to the body that never allowed Charlo to get in a rhythm. Charlo was more aggressive after getting knocked down in the seventh round, but never did enough to put Alvarez in any danger.
“We worked on attacking the body,” Alvarez said. “We know he’s a great fighter. He knows how to move in the ring. We worked on attacking the body for three months.”
With his dalliance at 168 pounds over, Charlo said he’d likely go back to his regular weight and fight Tim Tszyu, who was given Charlo’s World Boxing Organization junior middleweight belt when the Houston fighter left the division to challenge Alvarez. However, after Saturday’s loss, Charlo also said he’d like to face Terence Crawford, the undisputed champion at 147 pounds and the man widely thought to be one of the best pound-forpound fighters in the world. Charlo said he’d like to fight Crawford at 154 pounds.
Crawford, who was ringside for the fight, didn’t seem too interested.
“He’s no longer on my hit list,” Crawford posted on Twitter. “He went out there and laid down and let Canelo spank him like he was his daddy with no type of resistance.”