Canelo Álvarez wins WBA (Super) and vacant WBC super-middleweight titles with sheer domination over Callum Smith in their Saturday night faceoff at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, handing the Liverpudlian pugilist the first defeat of his professional career.
Canelo Álvarez unifies WBC, WBA Super middleweight titles with a dominating UD victory over Callum Smith
Despite Callum Smith towering seven inches above Canelo Álvarez, the latter made the contest even with an absolutely stunning performance, earning a much-deserved UD victory (119-109, 119-109, 117-111).
Canelo clinches the vacant WBC and WBA (Super) super-middleweight belts from the Englishman, becoming the fourth Mexican fighter to win titles across four divisions, a feat previously achieved by Juan Manuel Márquez, Jorge Arce and Érik Morales.
From face to body, Canelo’s barrage of powerful shots from the face to the body sent Smith, who had already ended up with a bloody nose, limping towards the rope again and again during the penultimate rounds.
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A staggering uppercut from Canelo was also on the menu for his adversary in the 9th round, followed by a total beatdown of Smith for whom the fight had already become a fight or flight scenario.
As per Compubox’s punch statistics, Canelo connected 43% of all his shots (214 of 494) and 57% of power shots, compared to only 18% from Smith (99 of 539). Moreover, the Mexican clocked 88 jabs throughout the 12 rounds, just double of Smith (44).
“Smith is a great fighter, but as you see, I did a great job,” Canelo told DAZN after the flawless victory, “I’m the best in the world. I showed what I am. I feel great at 168.”
“I don’t want to fight with the scale. I want to unify. I want all the belts. It doesn’t matter who is there,” the champion added.
Appraisals came from the other end.
“It could have been a better version of me tonight. He (Canelo) performed and was the better man,” Smith lauded his opponent after the match, “He is smart to be honest. He is clever. He closes ground, sets traps and before you know it he’s closed the ground up. I maybe let him close the ground up too easily.”
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