Mayweather vs. Alvarez: Not Even Close

Money was money, as expected.

On Saturday night at the MGM Las Vegas, legendary American welterweight boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather defeated Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez to improve to 45-0. And, despite the opinion of one crooked judge, it wasn’t even close.

In fact, none of the final scores seemed to accurately reflect what actually happened in the fight.

Early on it was relatively even, with Alvarez seemingly boosted by the boisterous chants from the crowd. The first two rounds were a tossup and Alvarez turned it on again the in the 8th, but Mayweather’s advantage was decisive in the rest.

Having landed just 23 percent of his shots, Alvarez’s frustration was very apparent. For awhile it seemed that every time he connected with a blow, a fleet-footed Mayweather instantly connected with two—often making his opponent look as if he was glued to the floor in the process.

With Mayweather having dominated the vast majority of the action early, Alvarez was forced into action late. The key word being forced. His decision making suffered as he desperately tried to connect on anything—the air around Mayweather’s face and body took quite a beating.

Although Alvarez threw more punches in the end, Mayweather landed over 100 more. The more Alvarez forced the action, the worse he looked.

Throughout the fight Mayweather was aggressive and quick on his feet, yet somehow it seemed he had barely broken a sweat in the later rounds. Alvarez, on the other hand, looked exhausted and strained midway through. He was sweating profusely and beat red, which only added to Mayweather’s perceived domination.

In the end two judges gave Mayweather the majority decision—Dave Moretti 117-111, Craig Metcalfe 116-112. A third rogue judge, C.J. Ross (a woman), called it a draw at 114-114, which was absolutely stunning.

Talk about hurting the cred of women in boxing.

One could argue the judges that favored Mayweather actually low-balled the champ, but at least they gave him the win he earned. There is absolutely no excuse for, or explaining what that third judge was thinking. If this fight wasn’t worthy of a unanimous decision, well then what is?

Almost seems as if she came into the match with an idea of who she wanted to win and attempted to match the scoring to that ideal. Had Alvarez connected on a few more blows, she may very well have given him the edge. Truly stunning.

Following the judges’ not-so-unanimous decision, Mayweather was understandably surprised, but took the high road in his post-fight interview, saying: “I can’t control what the judge do.”

He did control almost every minute of the fight though, which is all that matters.

The 36-year-old simply outclassed the 23-year-old. Alvarez may very well be the future of boxing, but Mayweather is still very much its present.