LAS VEGAS — Reports of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's decline have been greatly exaggerated.
The reigning face of boxing made it look easy as he retained his undisputed super middleweight title by dominating Jermell Charlo.
And it wasn't even remotely close.
Charlo already had a significant mountain to climb by moving up two weight classes and leaving his undisputed super welterweight status behind for the biggest fight of his career. But there are clearly levels to the boxing game and Charlo was either unprepared or unwilling to deal with one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
Charlo delivered a listless performance as Canelo bulled his way forward and tormented his opponent's body for much of the fight, scoring a knockdown in round seven to provide the only real drama of the evening.
“I worked the whole fight on going to the body, and then I changed it up. That’s what happens when you change the punch," Canelo said about the knockdown.
Canelo pursued Charlo and realized very quickly that his opponent was overmatched. With Charlo spending most of the fight with his back against the ropes, Canelo rumbled forward and slugged away at the body, fired an efficient jab, and landed the occasional hook to the head.
There wasn't much that Canelo could do aside from following Charlo around and looking for an opening to land power shots. That opportunity presented itself in the seventh round when a body shot was followed by a right hand to the temple which caused Charlo to take a knee.
After that, it was a game of survival for Charlo.
With fans filtering out in the later rounds due to an insurmountable lead, Canelo appeared to become annoyed with Charlo's unwillingness to engage. The scores reflected that as Canelo won with tallies of 119-108, 118-109 & 118-109.
"Nobody can beat this Canelo," "Cinco De Mayo. I'll come back and fight anybody. I don't f---ing care."
Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) successfully made his third defense of the undisputed super middleweight championship. He unified all four major titles when he knocked out Caleb Plant in November 2021.
After suffering a hiccup when he fell short in attempting to gain light heavyweight gold against Dmitry Bivol, the 33-year-old superstar has now won three fights in a row and will wait to see what's next. The obvious choice for many is a megafight with undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford. However, Crawford would need to move up 21 pounds for that fight to happen and he's engaged in a potential rematch with Errol Spence.
Other options appear to be David Benavidez and Jermell's older brother, Jermall Charlo.
As for Charlo, he still owns the IBF, WBA, and WBC championships and can return to the 154-pound division to defend those titles. Charlo called out Crawford, but after this performance, it is unlikely that Crawford would be interested.
Here's how it all went down in Las Vegas.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo live updates, results, highlights
Round Twelve: Canelo chops Charlo with a short right. More people head for the exit. Uppercut to the body for Canelo and more people start moving to the exit. Charlo lands a left hook. Charlo continues to throw hands but eats a body shot. Canelo looks upset as the fight ends.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (120-107 Canelo)
Round Eleven: It's more of the same as Canelo is jabbing and looking for one big shot. More body punches. Charlo appears to have checked out of winning and checked into the survival hotel. Canelo throws bombs at Charlo and lands a few. The deepest sigh. Another round for Canelo.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (110-98 Canelo)
Round Ten: Canelo pops Charlo with a pair of jabs and lands an uppercut. More body work. Wicked left to the body by Canelo. Canelo barely misses an uppercut. Charlo lands a combination but it means nothing. If you really wanted to find a round to give Charlo you could give him this one.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (100-89 Canelo)
Round Nine: Canelo continues to pressure Charlo and rips him with a short uppercut. Charlo attempts a combination but misses everything. Charlo lands a jab. Canelo rams another combination into Charlo. It's getting ridiculous.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (90-80 Canelo)
Round Eight: Hard jab from Canelo to start round 8. Canelo continues to sink in body shots. Charlo lands a right hand and Canelo trots forward. More body shots. Combination lands from Canelo and Charlo tries to fight back. Canelo is tearing up Charlo to the body. This is one-way traffic.
SN Unofficial Scorecard:10-9 Canelo (80-71 Canelo)
Round Seven: Charlo opens up with some offense, but Canelo lights Charlo up with a body shot and a hook. Down goes Charlo! Charlo is up and here comes Canelo! Canelo is looking for the finisher. Charlo lands a left hook as he tries to get away. Canelo stalks Charlo and lands a left hook.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-8 Canelo (70-62 Canelo)
Round Six: Charlo just isn't doing anything but letting Canelo bully him around the ring. Hard left hook to the body from Canelo. Canelo makes Charlo duck into an uppercut as the round ends. This is rough.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (60-54 Canelo)
Round Five: More body work from Canelo and it's starting to wear on Charlo. Charlo lands a combination and goes to the body. Maybe that will spruce him up. More body work from Canelo. Charlo is starting to look content to survive. Charlo lands a hook but Canelo lands a combination that moves Charlo around the ring.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (50-45 Canelo)
Round Four: I don't understand Charlo's strategy here. Maybe he's waiting for Canelo to fall asleep? Canelo walks through Charlo's jab and nearly takes his head off with a hook. Canelo is banging away at Charlo with no concern about what's coming back. Canelo with a hard right hand and a left to the body. He's tenderizing the body with these hooks. Charlo is giving rounds away like he knows something we don't.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (40-36 Canelo)
Round Three: Charlo opens up with jabs. Nothing lands as Canelo pressures him into the ropes without a single punch thrown. Another right to the body. He's banging on Charlo with nothing coming back. Straight right lands for Canelo and rocks Charlo. Charlo lands a short counter but allows Canelo to get back inside again. Uppercut lands for Charlo, which is the best punch he's landed. Not enough to win the round.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (30-27 Canelo)
Round Two: Hard right hand lands for Canelo lands. Canelo backs Charlo into the ropes and lands a body shot. Charlo continues to be jab. Body shot for Charlo lands. A right hook to the body for Canelo. Canelo bounces a body shot and a hook off of Charlo. Charlo is giving Canelo nothing to respect as the Mexican star rips him to the body. Does Charlo want to fight?
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo (20-18 Canelo)
Round One: The two circle each other and no punches are thrown for a minute. Canelo misses a huge body punch. Canelo closed the distance but still no shots landed by either fighter. Canelo lands a short left hook. Charlo begins to pump the jab to back Canelo off but Canelo is lurking. Nothing but pressure but not a whole lot else.
SN Unofficial Scorecard: 10-9 Canelo
11:34 p.m.: The main event is up next. Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo for Canelo's undisputed super middleweight championship. We're going to round-by-round coverage from here on out! Stay tuned!
Erickson Lubin takes controversial decision over Jesus Ramos in snoozer
Scores: 115-113, 116-112 & 117-111
11:29 p.m. ET: Well, that was surprising. It felt like Ramos was in control but all three judges found a way to give Ramos the decision. Although it wasn't a great fight, it certainly didn't appear to be a close fight and it definitely wasn't one that Lubin appeared to be winning. Alas, Lubin won a fight that few will remember outside of the controversial decision.
11:16 p.m. ET: Two rounds left and this crowd is fed up with the lack of action between Ramos and Lubin. Fans are more interested in watching the celebrities walk in.
11:04 p.m. ET: Through seven rounds, Ramos has been in control in what has been a relatively tame affair with Lubin. Nothing much to write home about. Just a workman-like effort from Ramos as he continues to apply pressure while Lubin seems content to fight off of his backfoot. It's not great.
10:24 p.m. ET: Co-main event is up next as Jesus Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) faces Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs) in a WBC/WBA super welterweight title eliminator.
Barrios claims interim WBC welterweight title with wide decision over Ugas
Scores: 117-108, 118-107 & 118-107
10:08 p.m. ET: We had some added drama down the stretch as Barrios dropped Ugas, who appeared to be on the verge of getting stopped. Ugas spit out his mouthpiece on two occasions to slow down the beating but lost a point in the process. It didn't matter as Barrios was well ahead and secured the decision and the title.
10:00 p.m. ET: The condition of Ugas' right eye continues to worsen as we head into the championship rounds. And the way that this fight is going, this could be the beginning of the end for Ugas' career if things don't turn around in the final six minutes.
9:50 p.m. ET: Things are getting interesting as we head into the ninth round. There is clear damage on Ugas' right eye, the same orbital bone that was broken by Errol Spence Jr. last year. He's fought a decent fight and appeared to have rebounded after the early knockdown but he's going to have to finish strong in order to get a decision here tonight.
9:26 p.m. ET: Barrios scored a knockdown at the end of round two to make this fight very interesting. Ugas walked into a stiff jab and hit the canvas. Although he wasn't terribly hurt, it'll be interesting to see how his punch resistance holds up over the duration of the fight.
9:00 p.m. ET: Next is Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) vs. Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KOs) for the WBC interim super welterweight championship. Ugas is back in action over a year after suffering an eye injury in defeat against Errol Spence Jr. while Barrios will have his third fight at 147 pounds.
Elijah Garcia stops Armando Resendiz in eight
8:56 p.m. ET: Garcia finished the job in style. Although Resendiz was in the fight, Garcia's power punches were having more of an effect on him in the later rounds. Garcia dropped Resendiz with a body shot and a hook to the head in the eighth round. Garcia then took his time picking his spots as a huge combination forced the hand of referee Tony Weeks at the 1:26 mark to get his 16th victory. The middleweight division could use some new blood and Garcia might be the future of the division.
8:39 p.m. ET: Through six rounds, Garcia has looked excellent against Resendiz. He's winning the combination exchanges and landing the heavier shots. Resendiz is very game and trying to build momentum off of his upset win over Jarrett Hurd, but the 20-year-old Garcia is proving to be too much for him.
8:13 p.m. ET: The PPV card is kicking off with the undefeated Elijah Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) taking on Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) in middleweight action.
7:42 p.m. ET: The early preliminary fights are all wrapped up and we're moments away from the PPV portion of Canelo-Charlo. Early on we had knockouts from Frank Sanchez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk while Terrell Gausha won a majority decision. Scroll down for the early results but stay tuned to our live coverage.
The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET | 5 p.m. PT | 1 a.m. BST | 10 a.m. BST | 1 a.m. BST | 10 a.m. AEST.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo full card
- Canelo Alvarez def. Jermell Charlo via unanimous decision. (119-108, 118-109 & 118-109) to retain undisputed super middleweight championship
- Erickson Lubin def Jesus Ramos Jr. via unanimous decision (115-113, 116-112 & 117-111)
- Mario Barrios def. Yordenis Ugas via unanimous decision (117-108, 118-107 & 118-107) for the interim WBC welterweight title
- Elijah Garcia def. Armando Resendiz via 8th round TKO (1:23)
- Frank Sanchez def. Scott Alexander via 4th round TKO (3:00)
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk def. Isaac Rodrigues via. 2nd round TKO (:54)
- Terrell Gausha def. KeAndrae Leatherwood via majority decision (78-74, 78-74 & 76-76)
- Curmel Moton def. Ezequiel Flores via 1st round TKO (1:48)