Canelo Defeats Chavez Jr. by Unanimous Decision … GGG next – in September

By Tom Donelson / Author, Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and a contributor to dmboxing.com since 2008.

The big news about Julio Cesar Chavez-Canelo Alvarez fight was not what happened in the ring but what happened after the fight when Alvarez announced a September 16th match with Gennady “Triple G’s” Golovkin for the Middleweight championship. 

As for the fight itself, this was a one sided affair that had a rinse and repeat aspect to it with every round the same as the round before.  Alvarez treated Chavez as his personal punching bag and Chavez never really seem into the fight as he rarely threw punches, missed often when he did throw and despite being the bigger man, Alvarez consistently pushed Chavez around the ring.  The smaller Alvarez often beat Chavez to the punch, his punches had more sting to them and by the end of the fight, even the fans booed.

What was supposed to be the battle of Mexico with two of Mexico biggest names in boxing, the fight turned out to be a dull one sided affair in which one side looked prepared and the other side looked totally lost.

Chavez rarely used his size to any advantage and when he did manage to get Alvarez to the rope, it turned out to be brief respite as Alvarez simply moved off the rope whenever he wanted and back into the center of the ring.  When Chavez attempted to box in the middle of the ring, Alvarez just gave him a boxing lesson.  There was nothing that Chavez could do to affect the fight and there was nothing Alvarez couldn’t do as he landed punches from every angle, including upper cuts, hooks to the body and effective jabbing. 

This fight exposed Chavez as no longer an elite boxing in the Middleweight through light heavyweight division. Or I should say, this fight exposed Chavez was never an elite fighter on the same level as Alvarez and Golovkin.   Chavez was a good fighter but not an elite fighter like his dad. In fairness, it is tough for the younger Chavez to live up to the legendary Chavez, Sr. standard and it can be said that he had a good career that most boxers would be happy with including championship belt but he never could reach the level of his father or his fellow Mexican fighter Alvarez. 

My first thought was the similarity to this fight and the Chavez-Martinez fight in which Sergio Martinez simply dominated Chavez for eleven roughs before Chavez landed haymakers in the twelfth round and nearly ended the fight with a historic comeback.  Against Alvarez, there would be no final magical moments as Alvarez won the final round as he won the previous eleven rounds

Alvarez did show himself to be one of the elite pound for pound fighters and that he is now ready for that showdown with Golovkin.  Alvarez has boxing skills and power to compete with Golovkin and as the Golovkin fight with Jacobs showed, Triple G is not invulnerable and he can be beaten.

Years ago, I made the observation that Mayweather defeat of Alvarez would be one of those boxing moments remembered years later if Alvarez showed himself to be great fighter in his own right.  If Alvarez beats Golovkin, this will also put Mayweather own career in perspective. The night that Mayweather defeated Alvarez, he defeated a younger, stronger fighter entering his peak. 

A year ago, I would have put money on Golovkin to win over Alvarez since I viewed him as the more powerful puncher and his boxing skills could match Alvarez but now, I will favor Alvarez since Alvarez showed against Chavez that he can move up in weight and win.  There will be no need for a catch weight for Alvarez and Golovkin will be facing a fighter with not only good boxing skills but enough power to stop him. Both fighters will be facing a mirror image of themselves with one exception, Alvarez is the younger fighter   

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