To say Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a great boxer is a huge understatement. He is the best fighter of our generation and could arguably go down as the greatest boxer of all time. Saturday night’s fight against Canelo Alvarez wasn’t as much of a boxing match as a lesson taught by Mayweather Jr. on how to fight. The fight, which went 12 rounds, featured two undefeated boxers: Mayweather (44-0) and Alvarez (42-0-1). Before the fight started, many critics easily predicted Mayweather, noting that Alvarez hasn’t had many fights with as stiff competition as he faced Saturday.
Alvarez was overmatched from the very first round, and by the fourth round, Alvarez was done. Alvarez only landed 22% of the punches he threw while Mayweather landed 46%, including 115 more punches than Alvarez. The fight was a letdown in the sense of how it played out. Mayweather won all 12 rounds, and it was surprising that Alvarez was able to stay on his feet the entire match.
At the age of 23, Alvarez is still extremely young and has the potential to be one of the best fighters in the world. Fighting against a legend like Mayweather is no easy task, and all of Alvarez’s flaws were shown. The biggest problem was simply that Alvarez could not land a punch. Mayweather and his elusiveness had no problem counterattacking and putting the fight away in the earlier rounds.
Mayweather isn’t known for being a big puncher, and nothing changed during this fight. However, he was able to be consistent and continuously get good shots in on Alvarez. All of these added up throughout the course of the fight, leading to his nearly unanimous decision.
Two of the three judges elected Mayweather as the winner victor, with scores of 116-112 and 117-111 respectively. The third judge, C.J Ross saw that even though Mayweather basically won every round, that the fight was a tie, scoring it 114 a piece. Coincidentally, this same judge scored a win for Timothy Bradley Jr. in his infamous “upset” against Manny Pacquiao in June 2012. Something like this definitely raises the question about the legitimacy of boxing, and if fights are being fixed.
Mayweather has stated that he plans to fight again in May and in September 2014. The opponent is unknown as of now, but junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia has been one possibility. Garcia who is also undefeated (boasting a 27-0 record) would definitely be a more noticeable opponent for Mayweather to fight. Anytime you have a match with two undefeated fighters going, it’s going to be a headlining event.
This fight was the second fight of a six-fight contract (to take place over 30 months) that Mayweather signed at the beginning of the year with Showtime. Now that Mayweather is 36, and will be 38 when the contract is up, two questions are raised: How many more years will we get to sit in amazement at Mayweather’s fighting, as well as the question everyone wants to know: When will we get to see the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight?
Connor Anthony can be reached at connor.anthony@spartans.ut.edu.