CANELO ALVAREZ UNIFIES SUPER WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION WITH UNANIMOUS DECISION VICTORY OVER AUSTIN TROUT
Texas-Sized Crowd of 39,247 at Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (April 20, 2013) – 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 incredible elusive defensive skills in a close contest. Judges at ringside scored the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 118-109.
“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 Rgoberto Alvarez suffered againstTrout 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.
Saturday’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING fights will replay on Sunday, April 21 at 9 a.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME and on Tuesday, April 23 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.
Brian Kenny served as host of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING with Mauro Ranallo calling the action, Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi serving as expert analysts with Jim Gray reporting. The telecast was produced by David Dinkins, Jr., with Bob Dunphy directing.
ABOUT “CANELO VS. TROUT”:
Canelo vs. Trout, a 12-round Super Welterweight World Championship Unification fight for Canelo’s WBC title, Trout’s WBA title and the vacant Ring Magazine title, was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Canelo Promotions and Leija & Battah Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The co-main event was a 10-round fight between undefeated prospects Omar Figueroa Jr. of Weslaco, Texas and Abner Cotto of Caguas, Puerto Rico for the vacant WBC Silver Lightweight Championship which is presented in association with Miguel Cotto Promotions. The fights aired live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with Canelo vs. Trout being presented in association with Greg Cohen Promotions. SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® is available in Spanish on secondary audio programming (SAP). Preliminary fights aired on SHOWTIME EXTREME at 8 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).
EVENT PHOTOS
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
