?CANELO? ALVAREZ IN SPECTACULAR 3RD ROUND KO HELPS FANS FORGET THE CONTROVERSY-RIDDLED PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 10 May 2015
Former world champion Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez, the 24 year old Mexican superstar scored a spectacular 3rd round knockout over slugger James ?Mandingo Warrior? Kirkland at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas and helped fight fans at least temporarily forget the controversy-riddled Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr showdown last May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a fight telecast ?live? by Solar Sports who also telecast the Pacquiao-Mayweather ?Battle for Greatness? in an unprecedented multi-network offering.
The junior middleweight bout which headlined an action-packed Golden Boy Promotions fight card attracted over 30,000 fans with the battle turning into an electrifying contest from the opening bell.
The southpaw Kirkland came out firing before Alvarez dropped him with a perfectly-timed counter uppercut and battered him to earn what commentators Col. Bob Sheridan and journalist/commentator Doug Fischer figured was a 10-7 round.
Kirkland pressed the action in round two and caught Alvarez on the ropes with a number of flurries before the young Mexican cheered on wildly by a crowd that included his mother and girlfriend, landed some solid shots to end the round.
Alvarez connected with a series of vicious body shots in round three and cracked Kirkland with a variety of right straights and uppercuts to send him crashing to the canvas for the first time when he was given the mandatory eight count.
Alvarez, sensing he had Kirkland in deep trouble moved forward and set him up with a shot to the body and then nailed him with a devastating right cross that dropped Kirkland like a log before referee Jon Schorle correctly decided he had seen enough and called a halt at 2:19 of the round.
With the smashing victory, Alvarez, whom the late WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman always told us in overseas telephone conversations before he regrettably passed away, that ?Canelo? needed to mature a little and he would then be a dominating fighter because of his power and his fighting heart, improved to 45-1-1 with 32 knockouts while Kirkland fell to 32-2 with 28 knockouts.
HBO Sports Max Kellerman sought to elicit a negative comment from Alvarez on the Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown but was deftly side-stepped as Alvarez answered a question on whether he felt ?after last week?s big fight that didn?t produce fireworks, that you could create something special here for boxing fans who were hungry for that kind of fight??
Alvarez said ?I don?t focus on other fighters, I don?t focus on other fights. I do what I do, I do what the people like and that?s what?s important to me.? His answer drew applause from the fans.
Alvarez lost a majority decision in a WBC/WBA super welterweight title fight against Mayweather on September 14, 2013 with judge CJ Ross coming under worldwide condemnation for scoring the fight a draw when Mayweather was the clear winner.
Alvarez said he is ready to face anyone they put in front of him including champions Miguel Cotto or Gennady Golovkin.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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