Boxing: ‘Canelo’ Shuts Out Chavez Jr, Will Meet ‘GGG’ in September

What was billed as the fight of the year, the great Mexican rivalry that was going to reinvigorate the sport, wound up being a complete dud. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wiped the canvas with adversary Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after years of bickering, shutting him out over 12 uneventful rounds.

Their battle headlined a massive HBO Pay-Per-Event that sold out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but halfway through the bout, about half of the 25,000-plus in attendance were booing the contest. “Canelo” did whatever he wanted to Chavez early on and never looked back. He dazzled him with a cannon of a left jab, blasted him with overhand rights and crushed his guts with hooks and uppercuts on the inside.

Related » Saul Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Play-by-Play & Round-by-Round Scoring

Chavez, who is several inches taller and the naturally heavier man, backed away for much of the meeting and as the rounds wore on, be grew increasingly more reluctant to let his hands go. Chavez’ left eye was a swollen shut late in the fight thanks to that precise overhand right from Alvarez, who coasted to an easy shutout win. All three judges saw the bout 120-108 for “Canelo” - as did sherdog.com and virtually everybody else sitting ringside - who improved to 49-1-1 with 34 KOs.

After the fight, Chavez (50-3-1, 32 KOs) blamed new trainer Nacho Beristain for the loss, which elicited a chorus of boos and jeers from those who stayed to listen to his post-fight interview.

But as dull as the main event was, the announcement of Alvarez’ next fight more than made up for the lack of action inside the ring. Undisputed middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin entered the ring to confront Alvarez and HBO’s Max Kellerman announced that the two have an agreement to fight at T-Mobile on Sep. 16 later this year (latest odds).