Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest superstar, put on a dominant show Saturday night to cap the 2020 major fight slate, cruising to a unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated champion Callum Smith and winning the WBA, WBC and The Ring magazine super middleweight titles.
The scorecards read 119-109, 119-109 and 117-111, all for Alvarez.
In front of 15,000 fans (20% capacity) at the San Antonio Alamodome, Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) stalked Smith (27-1, 19 KOs), punishing him with an array of consistent jabs, uppercuts and hooks for 12 rounds. Alvarez became the first unified champion from Mexico in super middleweight history.
“I’m the best in the world,” Alvarez said on the DAZN broadcast via an interpreter. “In the first round, I tried to see what he brings, the skills or whatever, but like you can see, I showed what I am.”
By the later rounds, the intrigue of the bout shifted from who would win to whether Smith would survive Alvarez’s devastating blows and make it to the distance.
The 6-foot-3 Smith had a 7-inch height advantage and an 8-inch reach advantage over the 5-foot-8 Alvarez. But it didn’t matter, as Alvarez was the big bully Saturday night, eliminating the distance that Smith prefers and consistently pounding punches off the British boxer’s head and body.
“He was the better fighter tonight,” Smith said. “He’s smart. He’s clever. He sets you little traps and keeps you thinking. Before you know it, he’s closing the ground. He’s a good fighter, but I’m just a little disappointed with myself. His jab was really good. It surprised me a little bit. His defense was really good.” Alvarez has now defeated two Smith brothers — knocking out older brother Liam Smith as a junior middleweight in 2016 and beating Callum Smith on Saturday.
Alvarez — universally considered one of the top two pound-for-pound boxers in the world, boxing’s best-selling fighter, and already a four-division champion — now has won The Ring magazine title in three different weight classes.
