Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) totally dominated his over-matched challenger Jermell Charlo (35-2-1,19 KOs), beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight that was never competitive from the start on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It looked like Jermell mentally checked out after getting hit with a hard body shot in the second round from Canelo. After that, Jermell fought scared, clinching frequently and not letting his hands go for fear of getting countered by Canelo.
Canelo knocked Jermell down in round seven with a right hand, but couldn’t put him away. Jermell came back to fight reasonably well in rounds eight and nine, but then did little when Canelo turned up the heat in the championship rounds.
The judges’ scores were 119-108, 118-109 and 118-109.
Tonight’s live results of the Canelo-Jermell card will be shown below.
– In a surprise upset, Erickson ‘The Hammer’ Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) defeated Jesus Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the WBC Diamond junior middleweight title.
This was a real surprise because Ramos looked like he did enough to win, but not with these judges.
Ramos looked like the better fighter of the two, outworking Lubin with his hard shots in rounds 1 through 9. In the championship rounds, the 22-year-old Ramos took his foot off the accelerator, allowing Lubin to rally to win the fight.
The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111.
– Mario Barrios (28-2, 18 KOs) dominated the faded looking former WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas (27-6, 12 KOs), winning a 12 round unanimous decision to capture the WBC interim 147-lb belt.
Ugas was hurt in the twelfth round and close to being stopped. He made it to the end of the round, but took a real beating from Barrios.
The former WBA light welterweight champion Barrios used his sharp punching to knock Ugas down in rounds 2 & 12 and had his left eye badly swollen. The judges’ scores were 117-108, 118-107 and 118-107.
It’s hard to see where Ugas goes from here, as he’s 37 years old, and this is his second straight loss. With a reported net worth of $15 million, Ugas can retire and walk away at this point because he’s clearly not the fighter that beat Manny Pacquiao in 2021 and arguably defeated Shawn Porter in 2019.
He’d been out of the ring being stopped by Errol Spence last year in April due to an injury, and it looks like he suffered another eye problem tonight.
– #6 WBC, #7 IBF & #8 WBA middleweight Elijah Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) scored an eighth round knockout of Armando Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs). Garcia showed outstanding power, knocking Resendiz down with a huge right hand shot in the eighth round.
To his credit, Resendiz got back upon shaky legs and tried to hold off the 20-year-old Garcia, but it was no use. Garcia unloaded with a flurry of punches after cornering him.
Referee Tony Weeks then jumped in and halted the fight in a slightly premature stoppage. The some was at 1:23 mark. If Weeks had let the fight go on a moment longer, Garcia would have put Resendiz down again.
Elijah Garcia showed outstanding power, but his defense & hand speed were lacking. To get to the next level, Garcia will need to fix his defense because he can’t be getting hit as much as he was tonight when he goes up against the top fighters in the division. But his power is outstanding, and everything he throws is devastating.
– Heavyweight contender Frank Sanchez (23-0, 16 KOs) outclassed Scott Alexander (17-6-2, 9 KOs), beating him by a fourth round corner stoppage.
Showing off his outstanding offensive skills, the Cuban talent Sanchez unloaded with a storm of punches in the fourth round against Alexander, who somehow remained upright.
After the end of the round, Alexander’s corner chose not to send him out for the fifth round. Like always, Sanchez looked outstanding, dominating another one of his opponents.
The management for Sanchez needs to step him up because his career has been going backward since his impressive victory over Efe Ajagba in 2021.
Instead of being put in against increasingly better opposition, Sanchez is being marched backward, facing worse & worse opposition with each fight, and it’s hard to understand why.
At this point in his career, Sanchez should be fighting guys like Jared Anderson, Filip Hrgovic, Andy Ruiz, Martin Bakole, Zhilei Zhang, and Arslanbek Makhmudov.
– In light heavyweight action, former WBC 175-lb champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) looked impressive tonight, dispatching the overmatched Isaac Rodrigues (28-5, 22 KOs) in a second round TKO.
Gvozdyk poleaxed the 38-year-old Rodrigues with a beautiful right to the head in round two. Rodrigues barely beat the count but looked in bad shape when he got back to his feet, resulting in referee Tony Weeks choosing to half the contest at 0:54 the round.
In the first round, Gvozdyk stalked Rodrigues around the ring, nailing him with jabs and hard right hands. Rodrigues was giving ground at all times, not wanting to mix it up with the hard–hitting Ukrainian.
Tonight’s victory for Gvozdyk was his third since coming back from a four-year retirement. He retired in 2019 after a loss to Artur Beterbiev, which was a surprise to a lot of boxing fans because he was quite capable of capturing one of the other titles at 175.
– Middleweight Terell Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs) had to battle hard to defeat the always-tough KeAndrae Leatherwood (23-9-1, 13 KOs) by an eight round majority decision.
Gausha, 36, was getting hit a lot by the aggressive Leatherwood, but he turned it up in the championship rounds to earn the decision by the scores 78-74, 78-74, and 76-76.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian Gausha has suffered recent close defeats against Tim Tszyu & Erickson Lubin, giving both fighters a lot of problems. If Gausha had more power, he’d be a threat to the champions at 160.
That’s really the only thing that’s missing from his game right now. If he had a little more pop in his punches, he’d have a good chance of picking up one of the belts.
– Light welterweight knockout artist Gabriel Valenzuela (28-3,-1, 17 KOs) overpowered Yeis Gabriel Solano (15-3, 10 KOs), bludgeoning him for five rounds with his sledgehammer shots before stopping him with a huge body shot in the sixth round. The bout was then halted.
The time of the stoppage was at 2:33 of the sixth. Valenzuela recently defeated Steve Spark by a 10 round split decision last May in an upset victory.
Before that, Valenzuela destroyed Yves Ulysse Jr. by a first round knockout last February. Valenzuela has looked like a completely different fighter since his narrow loss to Montana Love a year ago.
He’s made many improvements in his game and looks capable of giving a lot of the contenders at 140 problems. It would be interesting to see him and Devin Haney tangle.
The ‘Face of Boxing’ Canelo Alvarez will be back tonight, defending his four 168-lb belts in a 50-50 fight against the tough Jermell Charlo on Showtime PPV. Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) needs to win and look good to show that he’s still the King of the sport
The action kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET on Showtime pay-per-view, and the preliminary card begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on Facebook & YouTube.
Co-feature attraction
On the undercard, junior middleweight contenders Jesus Ramos & Erickson Lubin will mix it up in the 12-round co-feature bout for the vacant WBC Diamond 154-lb title.
The 22-year-old Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) is a fighter who is being fast-tracked to the top and could be the star of the junior middleweight division soon.
Ramos is facing the capable veteran Lubin (25-2,18 KOs), who wants to show that he still has the ability to win a world title.
Erickson lost to Sebastian Fundora last year by a ninth round stoppage, and his face still looks lumped up from that grueling fight.
Other fights on the main Showtime PPV card
- Former WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KO) is coming off a war with Errol Spence Jr. to take on former WBA 140-lb champion Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KO) in a 12 round fight for the WBC interim 147-lb title.
- Middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia (15-0, 12 KO) will battle Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KO) in a ten round fight that should be an interesting to watch contest.
Canelo expects best from Jermell tonight
“I think this is a great time to do this fight. He’s undisputed in his weight class, and I’m undisputed in my weight class. It never happened between two undisputed champions, and I think it’s the perfect moment to do this fight, and I’m happy to be here,” said Canelo Alvarez to Hot 97 about tonight’s fight with Jermell Charlo in Las Vegas.
“I expect the best Charlo. He has a lot of skills, he knows how to box, and he’s a strong fighter, but I’ve been in with all kinds of fighters, and I’m ready.
“I can say a lot of things, but at that moment, I felt I was ready to fight him and beat him, and I prepared myself to beat him,” said Canelo about whether he had regrets about taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr. at age 22 in 2013 before he was in his prime.
“He was the better man that night. He had a lot of experience, and he’s one of the greatest fighters of all time. I just lost, but I learned a lot. That made me feel like I needed to be the best one day. That’s why I’m here.
“I think boxing is in a great position right now; they’re making a lot of great fights out there. People are enjoying boxing a lot more than before, and I think, and I think the sport is in a great position,” said Canelo.
“I making these kinds of fights that people enjoy, and they’re waiting for these kinds of fights for a long time, and I feel great being involved in this fight.
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m in my prime,” said Canelo when asked how much longer he’ll continue his career. There’s a lot of history with Mexican boxing, and I’m glad to be here at the top,” said Canelo.