Canelo Alvarez hauls middleweight belts after outlasting Callum Smith

Canelo Alvarez is still in top shape despite almost a year of being inactive (Ed Mulholland)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Despite a long lay-off, Canelo Alvarez showed the undefeated Callum Smith who the true undisputed middleweight champion of the world is after putting on a clinic in their highly-anticipated clash.

Alvarez’s on-point hooks and consistent volume of punches made it easy for the judges to score a unanimous decision victory in his favor where the WBA and the Ring super-middleweight and vacant WBC super-middleweight titles were at stake.

It was total domination for the veteran and explosive Alvarez as he worked the entire 12 rounds to punish Smith and dictate the full tempo of the match.

Smith tried to be more aggressive in the second half of the bout but Alvarez’s efficient counter-punching saw him score more points despite the opposition’s volume of thrown punches.

Both fighters showed some rust early on as the first landed punch of the bout was only scored after almost one minute and five seconds.

Since then, Alvarez did not look back and stepped on the gas as the rounds progressed and exposed Smith.

Following his convincing victory over Smith, Alvarez confirmed that he is open for a third bout against main rival Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.