Álvarez defeats Charlo to retain undisputed super middleweight title
Canelo Álvarez has won a unanimous decision over Jermell Charlo to retain his undisputed super middleweight championship. The official scores were 118-109 (twice) and 119-108. (The Guardian had it 119-108.)
It’s his 60th professional win.
His opponent who had to jump two weight classes to fight Canelo didn’t feel nmhe needed to make excuses for the loss.
“I just felt like I wasn’t me in there,” Charlo says. “I don’t make excuses for myself so, it is what it is. Take my punches and roll with it. This is boxing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose” he sadi.
Asked what the difference was tonight compared to his previous performances, Charlo says it came down to the climb in weight.
“Truthfully, you could feel the difference in the weight,” he says. “I jumped up 14 pounds. I’m undisputed in my weight division [at 154lbs]. I was daring to be great right now. You fall short sometimes, but you got to just keep on pushing. My road don’t stop right here.”
Will he go back to the junior middleweight division where he consolidated all four major title belts?
“Absolutely,” he says. “I think this morning I weighed 172, 173. It is what it is. I’m proud of myself. He didn’t knock me out, [but] he knocked all those other guys. He hit me with some hard shots. I felt like I got mine off. But hey, I’m the little Charlo, I’ve got to represent.”
Asked what’s next at junior middle, Charlo first says that he’d be happy to fight the winner of next month’s WBO title fight between Tim Tszyu and Brian Mendoza … but then makes a sudden change of tack.
Charlo wants Terence Crawford fight at 154
“I want to fight Terence Crawford,” an animated Charlo says. “Fuck that. I could fight Terence Crawford at my weight division. Let him fight Errol Spence, whatever they got going on, get that out the way. I’m waiting. I’m about to get right back in training. Tell him don’t worry about it.”
Álvarez: ‘Nobody can beat this Canelo’
“Nobody can beat this Canelo,” Álvarez says, giving his in-ring interview entirely in English. “I’m a strong fighter all the time. I’m a strong man.”
Asked why he spent so much of tonight’s fight dedicated to the body attack, Álvarez says that was all in the plan.
“We worked for that,” he says. “We worked to go to the body. We know he’s a great fighter and he knows how to move in the ring. So we worked that in the gym for three months. For three months in the mountains without my family, without anything. But I still love boxing. I love boxing so fucking much! Boxing is my life. Boxing made me the person I am today. Boxing is my love. That’s why I love so much, boxing. And I love boxing that much because of my fans, too. Thank you!”
Álvarez insists he is not disappointed that he failed to get the knockout: “I feel great. That’s why we fight 12 rounds right? If we don’t get that knockout, I get 12 rounds to show I am the best! I’m the better fighter. That’s why there are 12 rounds, to show who’s better.”
What’s next? Álvarez says he will return on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2024, whether it’s his mandatory defense against David Benavidez or a different opponent.
“Whoever, I don’t care,” he says. “We’ll see who’s next. I don’t fucking care.”
Source: Guardian
