Alvarez is king of boxing’s wait class

Mexican adds WBO light-heavyweight title to an already impressive resume.

LAS VEGAS — Dwayne Johnson, the actor and former professional wrestler who performs under the moniker The Rock, appeared on the arena’s oversized video screens with what looked like a title belt over his shoulder. Instead of the name of a combat sports sanctioning body or a wrestling organization, the belt was adorned with the letters “BMF.” As a smiling Johnson strode through a partition in the crowd, fans in the MGM Grand Garden

Arena stood and pointed their phone cameras toward the walkway leading from the locker rooms to the boxing ring.

Johnson never walked out. Of course he didn’t. He was in New York for UFC 244.

DAZN, the streaming service that broadcasted Canelo Alvarez’s fight against Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night, didn’t want its main event to overlap with the mixed-martial-arts card. The MGM Grand had a choice. Anger its customers by forcing them to stare an empty boxing ring or show on its screens the UFC match between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz.

LAS VEGAS — It was one for the books. Not the history book. History will have to wait. But Canelo Alvarez won one more title for another milestone in a record that one day might allow him to say he belongs among the best ever.

Alvarez did it emphatically, winning the World Boxing Organization’s lightheavyweight title with a leftright combination that stopped Sergey Kovalev at 2 minutes 15 seconds of the 11th-round Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

First, it was a left to the body. Then a right to the head. The blows drove Kovalev into the ropes. Then, the Russian dropped to the canvas, looking almost lifeless. He had to be helped to his feet and onto a stool.

“I just ask you to be patient,” Alvarez said to a cheering crowd. “I am making history.”

History is built on what Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) achieved. In moving up two divisions from middleweight, he won his fourth title at a fourth weight.

But true to his long-term patience, he was patient in the fight, too. The bout started slowly, both fighters looking tentative. Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) relied early on his feared jab. He tried to measure, then maintain distance. But Alvarez, whose purse was $35 million, began to move forward late in the round, landing two left hooks, one to the head followed by one to the body late in the first.

In the second round, Kovalev began to look like the bigger man. Alvarez lunged and missed. Kovalev peppered combos at his upraised hands, which shielded him with careful vigilance.

By the third, it was clear both fighters were looking for angles, openings from different perspectives. Kovalev landed a left from a distance and Alvarez tried to get up-and-under the taller Russian. In the fourth, Alvarez began to zero in with a left hand. It began to find its mark just as Kovalev threw his long jab. Alvarez landed one, then two, in a succession of blows punctuated by a right uppercut to the body.

In the fifth, there was a different Alvarez, a defensive version. Kovalev threw punches yet missed as Alvarez moved his head from side to side in a defensive pose, a subtle adjustment that seemed to surprise Kovalev, who collected a career-high $12 million.

In the sixth, the bounce in Kovalev’s footwork was missing. He back-pedaled as Alvarez pursued, sensing perhaps that the Russian was fatigued. Late in the seventh and early in the eighth, Kovalev appeared reenergized. He moved forward, pursuing Alvarez, leading with a deadly jab that repeatedly backed Alvarez into the ropes. It was as if the Russian knew that the fight had reached a crucial point.

It was still up for grabs until Alvarez ended it.

For weeks, ticket sales were slow. Hours before opening bell, prices were slashed, some by as much as 50%. Seats in the upper rows of the arena had an initial price tag of $400. They were cheap in name only. They were selling for $200 a couple hours before the main event, which was delayed as promoters awaited the end of an UFC event in New York.

During Victorville lightweight Ryan Garcia’s firstround KO of Romero Duno in the last fight before the main event, the crowd began to grow. Empty seats slowly filled. But it wasn’t clear how many tickets were bought and how many were comped.

Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) delivered a victory only 98 seconds after the opening bell.

In a fight stopped in the 10th round because of a bloody head butt, Senieisa Estrada (18-0, 7 KOs) of Los Angeles won by TKO against Houston’s Marlen Esparza (7-0, 1 KO).