2024-05-06 12:50:20
The logic was given in Las Vegas and those who had to win won. The Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defeated his compatriot on points Jaime Munguia and retained the quadruple super middleweight crown. and the texan Mario Barrios He also beat Santa Fe by decision Fabian Maidana in a successful defense of the interim World Council welterweight title. Of course, there were differences: While the Aztec war lifted the 20,000 spectators who filled the T Mobile Arena in the capital of the state of Nevada from their seats, there was too much calculation and no real emotions in the duel between Barrios and Maidana. To such an extent that whistles and boos emerged from the stands in the last three rounds.
Canelo (75,636 kg) denied those who, like his former promoter Oscar de la Hoya, maintain that the best of his time is combined in the past and that he is going through the first stages of his decline. His was the same as always: a granite fortitude to give and receive and an unalterable conviction of victory.. Alvarez is not the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, nor even the most exciting and charismatic. He also doesn’t have an anesthetizing punch: in fact he won his last four fights on points. But it is much more than that: He is the chosen one of the industry, the one who produces and reproduces the most money, the one who moves the most millions of dollars every time he enters the ring. from that inner strength that gives the impression of not having been exhausted yet.
Munguía (75,975) is seven years younger and ten centimeters taller than Canelo. And he put up a very good fight even though he gave up his undefeated record. So much so that although the three juries gave him the loss by three, five and seven points, for the person writing this he lost by just one (114 to 113). because Álvarez closed the final round with greater presence and clearer blows. But before that he had beaten them four in a row from 8th to 11th. Munguía connected very firm hands up and down. But he was never able to move Canelo nor was he able to control his upward blows. With a terrible right hand they knocked him down in the fourth round. ANDIn the general compendium of a fight of sustained and electrifying crosses, Alvarez applied the most clear and effective impacts. That’s why he won.
“I earned the right to choose when, with whom and for how much I fight. If they pay me the money I want, I will fight tonight against whoever,” said the four-time middleweight champion excitedly when after the 61st victory of his career he was asked about your immediate future, In Las Vegas it is rumored that the English promoter Eddie Hearn made him a multimillion-dollar offer on behalf of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take his next fights there. Negotiations have already begun.
In the run-up to the Mexican War, Maidana (66,337) left the impression of having taken a step back when he should have taken one forward. He had fallen in the 3rd round after receiving a powerful right cross. But then he beat Barrios (66,451) the next three rounds with a powerful left hook and volley that closed the interim champion’s right eye. If Maidana dared to take command of the fight, he could deliver the blow of the night (he was 14 to 1 down in the betting). But he didn’t dare.
From there until the end, the man from Santa Fe, younger brother of the brave Marcos René, only opened the ring and never caught fire at the crossroads or took more risks. And although the champion had a hard time locking it up and pinning it down, in the end Barrios, with few blows, won all the rounds of the second half, from the 6th to the 12th and built a 116 to 111 victory on the three scorecards that not even he was satisfied with. Maidana gave good sensations and perhaps has opened the possibility of continuing to be called to integrate big cards. But He did not have a gesture of greatness when the combat called him to have it. He only wanted to finish standing to lose with dignity, no more than that.