Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez unified the Super Welterweight Division with a unanimous decision victory over Austin Trout on Saturday in front of a raucous 39,247 crowd at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Alvarez defended his WBC belt while capturing Trout’s WBA title and the vacant Ring Magazine Super Welterweight title with his signature power and aggression in what was a very tight, close contest. While the judges at ringside scored the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 118-109, ProBoxing-Fans.com scored the fight 114-113 for Canelo. The official scorecards were absurd, and the fight could have gone either.
See even more great Canelo vs. Trout photos here!
“Austin was a difficult fighter, but little by little I figured out how to fight him,” Canelo said. “I was connecting with my right and with my jab. My jab was perfect. It was the key.”
Canelo (42-0-1, 30 KOs), of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, knocked down the previously undefeated Trout (26-1, 14 KOs), of Las Cruces, N.M., for the first time in his career just seconds into the seventh round in a fight that was closer than the judges’ scorecards indicated.
In the electric and decidedly pro-Canelo Alamodome, the 22-year-old avenged a loss his brother Rigoberto Alvarez suffered against Trout in 2011.
“My brother was a big motivation for this fight. I did it for him,” Canelo said. “Trout beat my brother and he’s my blood.”
When asked after the fight who he would like to fight next, Canelo was confident.
“Obviously, I want Mayweather next,” Canelo said referring to boxing’s pound-for-pound champ Floyd Mayweather.
The 27-year-old Trout acknowledged that he was surprised by Canelo’s improved defense and his ability to avoid Trout’s consistent jab.
“Canelo shocked us,” Trout said. “He boxed a lot better than I thought. He moved a lot better than I thought. Not that I underestimated him, we just prepared for a totally different fighter.
“He was the better man. He was quicker. He was stronger. I have no excuses for tonight. He was the better man.”
In the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING opener, Omar Figueroa Jr. (21-0-1, 17 KOs) extended his undefeated record with an impressive first-round knockout over previously undefeated Abner Cotto (16-1, 7 KOs). Figueroa scored a knockdown two minutes into the bout with a vicious body punch. Cotto got up, but Figueroa kept applying pressure and ended matters with another big left hand to the body with just three second left in the first round (2:57).
“Those body shots linger for a while,” Figueroa said. “I knew I was going to catch him again. I knew it was just a matter of time.
“This is only going to help me get where I really want to be. We want to get to those world titles and this is only going to help us get there. We’ll do it again whenever, wherever. Just give me a time of day.”
Jermall Charlo (13-0, 9 KOs), of Houston Texas, registered a dominating technical knockout victory over Orlando Lora (29-4-2, 19 KOs), of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico in a bout featured on SHOWTIME EXTREME. With Charlo picking apart Lora and cracking open cuts on the veteran, Lora’s corner stopped the bout after the fourth round for the TKO.
In other SHOWTIME EXTREME bouts, Julian Williams (12-0-1, 7 KOs), of Philadelphia, Pa., scored a technical knockout at 1:43 of the third round over Dashon Johnson (14-11-3, 5 KOs), of Escondido, Calif., and undefeated prospect Terrell Gausha (4-0, 2 KOs), of Cleveland, Ohio, survived a first-round knockdown to register a four-round unanimous (38-37 three times) decision win over Williams Waters (2-4, 2 KOs), of Valley, Ala.
