Saturday night Floyd “Money” Mayweather did just what he’s done in at least 43 of the 45 victories in his stellar, undefeated career – he made it look easy. Mayweather defeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1) with his impregnable shoulder roll defense and deft counter-punching. Maybe the next reality TV venture for Mayweather, whose only career loss came on the set of Dancing WithThe Stars, will be beside Buddy Valastro on Cake Boss since he continues to cake walk through his opponents.
In front of a packed house at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mayweather quickly silenced the voracious fans of the previously undefeated Mexican superstar. Canelo, which means ‘cinnamon’ in Spanish, in reference to the young fighter’s bright red hair, might as well have changed his name to “Idiota” after entering into the fight with the worst strategy known to man. The bigger, stronger but slower Alvarez attempted to outbox the best ring technician on the planet. Before the fight, I stated that Alvarez had a chance, but only if he brought the fight to Mayweather and made him uncomfortable. He didn’t and unsurprisingly Mayweather boxed-off his proverbial sleeves en route to the easiest ‘majority decision’ known to man.
Speaking of the decision, Mayweather and his camp should have petitioned the Nevada State Athletic Commission to drug test judge CJ Ross who scored the bout a draw. This isn’t the first time Ross has turned in an awful scorecard that could be categorized as under the influence. She helped award Tim Bradley and underserved decision versus Manny Pacquiao that helped put a nail in the coffin of the proposed superfight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Sadly poor and corrupt judging is all too common in the sport of boxing. How terrible judges like Ross keep getting called for championship bouts is amazing. At this point, I’d rather see call-in judging like American Idol than to see Ross ever turn in a scorecard that counts again. Maybe she’s the one who helped Alvarez devise his brilliant strategy.
For the record, I scored the bout 118-110 for Mayweather and one of the two rounds I scored for Alvarez was very kind.
Garcia keeps on winning
While Mayweather’s performance was certainly the most flawless of the evening, the most exciting was from one of the most underrated fighters in the game: Danny Garcia. The Philadelphia fighter entered his bout with esteemed knockout artist Lucas Matthysse as an underdog to most. After all, since his disputed decision loss to St. Louis’ own Devon Alexander back in 2011, Matthysse had stopped five straight opponents, mostly in devastating, jaw-dropping style. Garcia’s somewhat awkward style seemed tailor-made for Matthysse’s straight, powerful punches.
However, Garcia shored up some of his technical flaws and his iron chin shook off every shot Matthysse threw at it. Garcia’s ability to take a punch is incredible. His opponent landed a few punches that would have sent lesser men into the realm of unconsciousness, but Garcia barely winced. Instead he used his supreme boxing skills to retain his titles in impressive fashion. He even put his more powerful opponent on his butt in the 11th round for good measure. The knockdown helped secure a close decision victory for Garcia (114-112, 114-112 and 115-111), who is appreciative the Ross and her dartboard style of scoring wasn’t in charge of the scores in his bout.
The fact that Garcia and Matthysse put on an action-filled, exciting fight on what figures to be one of the most-watched PPV events of all-time will increase bode well for them in the future, especially Garcia. There are already murmurs in the boxing world that the unified 140 lb. champion could end up sharing a ring with Mayweather in the future instead of warming it up for him. While Mr. Pound for Pound would undoubtedly be a big favorite should that fight ever come to fruition, Garcia’s heart and determination would ensure that fans would feel they got more than just the ol’ college try from another.
What’s next?
Overall “The One” should be seen as a successful event. Official PPV numbers haven’t yet been released, but Richard Schaefer from Golden Boy Promotions is confident the fight sold more than two million buys. If so, it will go down as the richest fight in history. That record may stand for a while since there doesn’t seem to be a big-name opponent left for Mayweather that fans might reasonably believe could upend the undefeated fighter. Mayweather’s next opponent will likely be the winner of the upcoming bout between Alexander and Amir Khan. After that, Bradley is an option or we may be other undefeated up and comers such as Kell Brook or Keith Thurman built up as the latest sacrificial lambs for boxing’s finest.
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