Canelo Alvarez’s skill was simply much too much for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr tonight, resulting in what became a glorified sparring session for $69.99 on pay-per-view, with Alvarez winning every minute of the fight, which did go the 12 round distance.
The good news is, he also announced a September fight with Gennady Golovkin.
Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KO) won on scores of 120-108 across the board. BLH also had it 120-108 for Canelo, who completely dominated every second of the fight against Chavez (50-3-1, 32 KO).
It was a complete wipeout, a non-event, a non-fight, and a fight that will only discourage boxing fans, just a week after the great heavyweight war between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.
The stats tell the story of the fight. Alvarez landed 228 of 604 (38%) of his total punches, compared to a sad 71 of 302 (24%) for Chavez. Alvarez outlanded Chavez 145-56 in power shots.
“I showed that I can move, I can box, I can do everything against a fighter who was bigger and stronger,” he said through a translator, adding, “He just wouldn’t throw punches. I wanted to give the Mexican public a great fight.”
After that, Alvarez was asked what’s next. He responded, “Golovkin, you are next, my friend.” A video package then played on the T-Mobile Arena’s big screen, and Golovkin received his standard “Seven Nation Army” entrance music to set up the fight, which Alvarez said is agreed to for September 16.
But then there was Chavez, who was loudly booed as the fight wore on, and also spoke with Max Kellerman after the fight.
“I wanted to box, but then he went to the ropes. I needed to throw more punches,” he said, also through a translator. “If I would have attacked more, I would have been open for counter punches. Nacho Beristain wanted me to do it in his style, but it’s not my style. It didn’t work for me.”
Chavez was also booed by the fans during the interview.
We got some good news tonight, but it doesn’t erase a bad fight. Hopefully, in September, we get what we really wanted to see.