Slick and quick Canelo unifies middleweight crowns

LAS VEGAS－Mexico's Saul "Canelo" Alvarez unified boxing's 160-pound division on Saturday, pounding out a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs in a fight that pitted two of the world's top middleweights, with three world titles on the line.

Alvarez kept his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles and seized Jacobs' International Boxing Federation belt in a bout that marked the Mexican's return to the middleweight ranks.

"It was just what we thought it would be," said Alvarez, who became the first Mexican to hold three major titles in a single division.

"We did our job. We showed a lot of diversity in terms of punches and combinations. It was beautiful."

Alvarez won on all three judges' scorecards, with two having it 115-113 and the other 116-112 in what was Alvarez's first fight of 2019 but the second on his 11-fight, $365 million contract with streaming service DAZN.

Alvarez has gone 10-0 with one draw including five KOs since losing to Floyd Mayweather in 2013.

At age 28, he is still in his prime, having improved his record to 56-1-2 with 35 KOs.

Alvarez's penchant for taking on all comers and his exciting style has elevated him to become one of the biggest stars in the sport, but it was his boxing skills and sound defense that stood out against Jacobs at sold-out T-Mobile Arena.

He dominated the early rounds, landing power jabs and slipping head shots.

By the sixth round Alvarez looked in control, prompting Jacobs' corner to tell the American to open up and take some chances.

Up until that point, the most noteworthy move from Jacobs was his ability to switch from orthodox to southpaw style in an attempt to confuse Alvarez.

Jacobs landed one of the best punches of the fight in the ninth round, a looping overhand right that hit Alvarez on the top of the head, but the Mexican didn't flinch.

There were more good exchanges in the 10th as Jacobs' confidence appeared to grow but Alvarez stuck to his fight plan and scored effectively.

"I feel great. I have to go back and look at the tape to see exactly what the judges thought," said Jacobs. "I was still pressing forward cause I wanted to finish strong.

"It took me a couple of rounds to get my rhythm. I feel like I gave enough to get the victory."

Asked if he would consider a third fight against Gennady Golovkin, who some felt should have got the decision in at least one of their two fights, Alvarez said: "For me we are done. But if people want another fight we will do it again and I'll beat him again."

Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) was coming off of a hard-fought victory in October against Sergiy Derevyanchenko for the vacant IBF middleweight title.

Nicknamed "Miracle Man" after overcoming osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that sidelined him for over a year, Jacobs returned to reel off 10 straight KO victories.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Canada's Artur Beterbiev retained his IBF light heavyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Bosnia's Radivoje Kalajdzic in Stockton, California.

Beterbiev, who moved from Russia to Montreal five years ago, improved to 14-0, all by knockout.

AFP