Canelo Alvarez-Callum Smith: Mexican becomes four-weight world champion with dominant points win
- Mexico’s Alvarez puts on a masterful performance in his debut at 168lbs to defeat Smith in Texas
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez became a three-weight world champion as he claimed the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles with a masterful showing against Callum Smith (27-1, 19 KOs) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night.
Making his debut in the weight class and giving away over seven inches to the Liverpool fighter Smith, Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) looked right at home in the presence of bigger challengers and took the win on a unanimous points decision (119-109, 119-109, 117-111).
It represented the Mexican’s second scalp of a Smith family member having beaten Callum’s brother Liam Smith by knockout back in 2016.
Despite the move up in weight, Canelo never looked troubled against the 30-year-old Smith, who took the fight on four weeks’ notice. It was a defensive masterclass for the gangly Briton.
Smith was brave and dug deep to hear the final bell when the punishment ratcheted up as the fight wore on, but he was outclassed by the Mexican, whose only blemish on his record came against the unbeaten great Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
By the midway point in Texas, Canelo had figured that Smith wasn’t going to be able to hurt him and took the fight to close quarters, where he dominated the Englishman.