Canelo Alvarez puts on a clinic against Jermell Charlo, winning easy unanimous decision to retain his four super middleweight titles

Any indication that Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is at the bottom of his career was extinguished on Saturday in Las Vegas as the face of boxing dismantled challenger Jermell Charlo for an easy, unanimous decision victory.

To his credit, Charlo wasn’t knocked out and never seemed overwhelmed, except in the seventh round when he was forced to one knee.

Charlo even had some impressive moments in the fourth and fifth rounds, but was ultimately outclassed by Canelo, who had success with his jab all night.

More to follow…

Alvarez applied pressure and kept Charlo against the ropes for much of the fight

Charlo was solid in the fourth and fifth rounds, but couldn’t hang with Canelo for all twelve

Alvarez has made Las Vegas his second home for the past decade.

He came here to fight Jose Cotto on May 10, 2010 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and Alvarez immediately felt the support of his Mexican compatriots.

Alvarez won that fight by technical knockout in the second round, the first of 17 trips to Las Vegas.

“I think it’s the capital of boxing,” Alvarez said of Las Vegas before the fight. “It just feels like coming home because a lot of Mexicans go there and support me. That’s why I like fighting in Vegas, and there’s a lot of history there.”

The 33-year-old Alvarez has played a huge role in that history, whether it’s beating Gennadiy Golovkin twice with another fight that ended in a split draw, or beating Shane Mosley, Daniel Jacobs or Sergey Kovalev. His favorite memory is that of the one-sided unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto in November 2015.

“He’s a great champion,” Alvarez said in the ring after that fight, “but now it’s my era.”

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman previously stated that David Benavidez will be Canelo’s mandatory challenger for the super middleweight belt.

But Alvarez has not committed to a showdown with Benavidez, a 26-year-old who is 27-0 with all but four knockouts. If Alvarez beats Charlo and dismisses Benavidez, the WBC would likely vacate his championship.

“I’m going to win (against Charlo), but I don’t know what’s next,” Alvarez said. “I’m going to sit down with my team and talk about it because I’m 100% focused on this fight.”

As for his possible options after Charlo, Alvarez said his intention would be to “fight the best fights out there.” We’ll see after this fight.’

Canelo lost to Dmitry Bivol by unanimous decision in May 2022, although the fight ended 115-113 in front of all three judges. Alvarez rebounded with a unanimous decision over Golovkin a year ago and then easily defeated John Ryder on the scorecards in May. But Triple G was through his best days in boxing and Ryder was simply outclassed.