Most expected pay-per-view (PPV) darling Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to wreck shop last night (Sat., Sept. 17, 2016) against WBO Junior Middlweight champion Liam Smith in the main event of HBO Boxing’s latest combat sports special, which took place inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Smith started the fight early in a defensive posture, and that allowed Alvarez to likely put numerous early rounds of the fight in the bank.
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The 28-year-old became champion with a win over American fighter John Thompson in August 2015, and had made two defenses in England.
“Liam Smith was a resilient fighter”.
The Liverpudlian, fighting on American soil for the first time, lost his WBO light-middleweight title after Alvarez ended the fight with a punishing body shot, which left Smith writhing around in agony as he failed to beat the count.
The former middleweight champion now boasts an impressive professional record of 48 wins, one draw and only one loss, which came against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Smith came to Texas as the beltholder but he is leaving the Lone Star state without the belt as the sustained bludgeoning he received at the hands of “Canelo” put an end to the fight in just over 9 rounds.
The fourth was a lot closer with Smith getting more into the fight and could have shaded the round. I fear nobody. I’m 26-years-old.
“I started going after him, but in the second round I hurt my hand”. “I was born for this and even though many people may not like it, I’m the best fighter right now”.
There was success for Smith in the fourth and the fifth when he pinned Alvarez to the ropes and clipped him with two big right hands.
“I felt he was very strong in the beginning”.
He added: “I want to thank everybody”.
All eyes will now be on whether Canelo will finally face middleweight monster Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin.
Asked about that match-up – and whether he was ducking the hard-hitting Kazakh – Alvarez said: “I fear no one”. We offered GGG twice the money to fight.
Being Canelo Alvarez means never having to say you’re sorry. Signals have been mixed from the Alvarez camp whether he was waiting to better negotiating terms and location as well as wanting to spend more time training at a higher weight.
Alvarez landed some vicious body shots early in the third, to control the round but Smith did land a few shots late in the round. Canelo was too good today.
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“We’re a team. I’m not going to blame my promoter or anyone else”.
