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As Saturday night turned into Sunday morning, somewhere high above the Nevada desert came the distant wail of millions of people who shelled out for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pay-per-view telecast on the misguided assumption that it would be a competitive affair.
Perhaps they were smoking the same thing as ringside judge CJ Ross, who somehow, from the best seat in the house, watched 12 rounds of one of the more one-sided championship fights you’re apt see and produced a scorecard that declared the bout a draw.
Could the punters not see that Alvarez wouldn’t be trying to land punches on an aged Shane Mosley, a limited Austin Trout, a blown up light welter in Josesito Lopez…etc, etc, etc, but rather the arguably most unhittable man to ever hold a championship title?
A man who, in addition, has blazing handspeed, uncanny timing, exceptional footwork and is very durable on the occasion he does get hit.
Apparently not, but that can be forgiven as Alvarez had been perfectly guided through the right sort of fights and publicized in just the right way to produce last night’s big money balloon of a fight card.
Judge Ross’ 114-114 score doesn’t wash away so easy. The other scores of 116-112 and 117-111 were a bit questionable as well as Alvarez won, at most, a single round. But, hey, that’s Boxing right? Situations like this occur on a regular basis and it will continue until everyone stops watching.
Can Mayweather be defeated? A quick check on the top fighters in the light welter, welterweight and light middle divisions doesn’t produce anyone who would even come close.
Mayweather would have to go up to middleweight and fight Gennady Golovkin for there to be even somewhat of a chance he’d lose.
Expect that to be Floyd’s final fight of his career, in 2016 when he risks everything in the attempt to be the first boxer to go 50-0, after defeating Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao.
What’s next for “Canelo” Alvarez? He’s young enough he can rebuild and will likely recapture a world title, possibly after moving up to middleweight. He has all the physical abilities to succeed as long as is able to recover mentally from Mayweather’s win last night.
Speaking of Danny Garcia, the Philadelphian put on a gutsy performance to turn the fight around against Argentine slugger Lucas Matthysse and retain his WBC/WBA light welter crowns.
Early on it looked as if once again the tremendous punching power of Matthysse would be the difference in the fight but Garcia never stopped trying and struck paydirt when a jab closed the right eye of the challenger midway through the contest.
From that point on it was Garcia’s fight aside from moments when the brave Matthysse got through with heavy shots, cruising to a 115-111, 114-112, 114-112 win.
The world title reign of Ishe Smith proved to be a short one, as the native Las Vegas man was dethroned in the first defense of his IBF light middle strap by Carlos Molina over 12 rounds, 117-111, 116-112, 116-112.
The busy Molina was just too active for the awkward and often off-balance Smith, who struggled to land punches on the shorter, perpetually moving challenger.
Former British light welter champ Ashley Theophane stepped way up in his Las Vegas debut, taking on former WBA Interim light welter belt holder Pablo Cano.
Early on, the heavy-handed Cano was clanging Theophane all over the ring, rocking the Londoner heavily on occasions and knocking him down at one point. But the plucky Englishman came back to trouble the Mexican, landing heavy right hands at times before Cano found his second wind in the final rounds.
