LOS ANGELES (Sept. 18) – Nearly 8-out-of-10 households in Mexico with a television set tuned into last Saturday’s “THE ONE: Mayweather vs. Canelo” mega-fight live on Televisa’s Channel 5. The 12-round majority decision fight, which Mayweather won, garnered a national rating of 41.1 points, which equates to a 77 percent share, 22.1 million viewers and 5.9 million television households, making it the highest-rated boxing program ever on television in Mexico. The telecast peaked with a National rating of 42 points (78.4 percent share/22.6 million viewers6 million television households) and the total program average from 8:00 p.m. CT to 12:30 a.m. CT was 30.1 points (16.2 million viewers/4.3 million television households).

“Boxing fans demanded “THE ONE” and when we gave it to them they responded with these record ratings,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “This proves that great fights with great fighters like Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez will always strike a chord with viewers and that Canelo is undisputed as the biggest star Mexican boxing has today.”

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The hype has been dispelled by harsh realizations, the euphoria (if any) has winded down and it may be time for some conclusions. Saul Alvarez and his team must have reached several revelations while Floyd Mayweather backed up braggadocio on Sept. 14.

Floyd Mayweather imposed his ‘blueprint” from the start and needed to make only small adjustments as the fight went on. He often anticipated his opponent’s actions taking advantage of the weaknesses he and his father mentioned before the fight. He used one small halfway-back movement on top of his usual routine to dampen Alvarez’s right hand. Floyd positioned himself as his opponents expected but he did not move in the direction his opponent expected. On top of that as an additional precaution he used this unobtrusive angle maneuver which seemed to hypnotize team Alvarez and they did not address that issue. FMJ’s game consisted of performing all the basics of boxing but performing them exceptionally well. His game reminded me of the Cuban amateur style, the same feet position and wide use of all defensive dimensions while throwing long-range scoring shots. Scoring shots favor speed and endurance while power punches consume a lot of fuel. His father’s instructions were “touch him to the body”, not “hit him”.

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