Canelo Alvarez wins by close unanimous decision!
On May 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (51-1-2. 35 KO’s) gained a fairly narrow unanimous decision win over Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (35-2, 29 KO’s).
In doing so, Alvarez retained his WBA super middleweight and WBC middleweight titles. Along with retaining his own hardware, Canelo usurped Jacobs IBF middleweight title. Canelo won by scores of 115-113 twice and 116-112.
To become the fully unified middleweight champion, Alvarez would have to capture Demetrius “Boo-Boo” Andrade’s (27-0, 17 KO’s) WBO middleweight strap.
Going into this highly anticipated showdown, most predicted that there would be a great deal of action. Whether or not there was blood, a knockdown or knockout, at the very least most foresaw this being an action-fight.
In the end, Alvarez v Jacobs was much more of a chess match than anything else. Furthermore, the “Miracle Man” is likely going to want to kick himself when he watches the fight film.
The Breakdown
Canelo opened the fight with an extremely muted offense. For the majority of the first round, Alvarez was content to let Jacobs probe with his pawing jab and try to find his range. Then in the second round, the Mexican icon unleashed a snappy jab that successfully disrupted Jacobs’ offensive productivity.
The third round was a difficult-to-score toss-up. Alvarez won the first half of the period with crisp punching and eye-catching defense. However, the Brooklyn bruiser drastically changed the complexion of the round with a thudding body attack and his own attention-commanding combinations.
The fourth marked a serious change in the bout. It was in this period that Alvarez fell into a very fluid, defensive groove. He began bending at the waste and bobbing his head unpredictably like a hungry cobra. Not only was the tactic optically pleasing, it was frightfully effective in the ring.
During this round in particular, when Jacobs missed, it looked very bad.For the next several rounds, Jacobs was overly hesitant and more or less unsure of what to do next.
In fact, throughout the meaningful prizefight there was the feeling that Jacobs didn’t have a solid game plan. Over the course of the full twelve rounds, Jacobs did not make any significant, or consistent changes in his attack.
Not only was the “Miracle Man” negligent in diversity of attack, he failed to apply consistent pressure. Alvarez is notorious for fighting in bursts and needing time to rest in order to recharge. Jacobs himself spoke of this very characteristic in the pre-fight build-up. Yet, in the fight he would not attempt to exploit it.
The Closing Rounds
During the last quarter of the fight, the action began to even out. As Alvarez began to slow down a bit, Jacobs’ fists found his face with more regularity. Down the final stretch, both men had their moments.
Yet, it was Alvarez who proved himself the better man of the evening. In the end, Daniel Jacobs could not hurt or put Alvarez down, which is exactly what he would have had to do.
Well before the match ever began, most thought it was impossible for Jacobs to win on the cards. In fights gone past, Alvarez has received a number of overly flattering scorecards. Here tonight, there was no controversy over the winner or the numbers.
The correct man had his hand raised! Lets just hope that Alvarez can get something worked out with Andrade, so that we can have another meaningful unification.
By: Bakari Simpson
