SPORTS SHORTS 126: CANELO ALVAREZ TKO BILLY JOE SAUNDERS IN EIGHTH SIDELIGHTS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 09 May 2021
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez stopped Billy Joe Saunders in the eighth round when Saunders didn't stood up for the ninth. The win gave Alvarez the WBO titles with his WBA (Super) and WBC super middleweight championships. The win improved Alvarez's record (56-1-2, 38 KOs) and his unbeaten streak to 15.
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Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) who suffered his first career loss, was hurt in Round 8 and at about the 1:30 mark, he wobbled when hit by Canelo’s flurry of blows and a solid right uppercut.
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The fight was stopped after his corner had difficulty letting Saunders open his injured eye, they signaled that he could not continue. Canelo is the winner by TKO and he was carried around ring.
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Saunders team later announced Canelo's unstoppable blows fractured his orbital bone and the British fighter was brought to the hospital by ambulance.
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All judges had Canelo winning when the fight was stopped. Tim Cheatham had it 77-75, Max DeLuca saw it 78-74 and Glenn Feldman scored it 78-74.
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Compubox Statistics
Total Punches Landed (Body) Thrown Percent
Alvarez 73 (39) 206 35.4%
Saunders 60 (6) 284 21.1%
Jabs Landed (Body) Thrown Percent
Alvarez 15 (1) 96 15.6%
Saunders 30 (0) 168 17.9%
Power Punches Landed (Body) Thrown Percent
Alvarez 58 (38) 110 52.7%
Saunders 30 (6) 116 25.9%
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Fight Card Results:
Canelo Alvarez def. Billy Joe Saunders via eighth-round TKO (corner stoppage)
Elwin Soto def. Katsunari Takayama via ninth-round TKO (referee stoppage)
Souleymane Cissokho def. Kieron Conway via split decision (92-97, 96-93, 95-94)
Frank Sanchez def. Nagy Aguilera via technical decision (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
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Undercard Results:
Marc Castro def. Irving Macias Castillo via TKO in R4
Keyshawn Davis def. Jose Antonio Meza via unanimous decision (60-54 x 3)
Christian Alan Gomez Duran def. Xavier Wilson via TKO in R2
Kelvin Davis def. Jan Marsalek via unanimous decision (38-37 x 3)
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Canelo is now the owner of the WBA, WBC and WBO world titles in the super middleweight division. Alvarez wants to fight American Caleb Plant for the IBF title to become the only Mexican fighter in history to win all four belts at super middleweight.
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“Caleb Plant, for the belt. I’m coming man, I’m coming my friend. I hope we can give the fans that fight," said Canelo during the post fight interview.
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Caleb Plant held the IBF super middleweight title since 2019. Plant, age 28 years of Ashland City, Tennessee is undefeated in winning all 21 fights with 12 KO wins.
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Plant defeated Venezuela's José Uzcátegui by unanimous decision on January 13, 2019 at the Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California.
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Since then, he defended the IBF title three times against American Mike Lee by 3rd round TKO, German Vincent Feigenbutz by 10th round TKO and American Caleb Truax by unanimous decision.
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A crowd of 73,126 who came to see the fight was announced at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, breaking the record of the largest indoor attendance for a boxing event. The previous record was 63,350 for the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks rematch in 1978 at the Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana.
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The fight venue AT&T Stadium, was formerly called Cowboys Stadium. It is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) and was completed on May 27, 2009.
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In March 13, 2010, a crowd of 50,994 witnessed Manny Pacquiao recorded a unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey to retain his WBO welterweight title at the AT&T Stadium.
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On November 13, 2010, the event called "The Eighth Wonder of the World" was held front of 41,734 fans, Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito to win the WBC super welterweight title. Pacquiao made history at the AT&T Stadium in becoming the first fighter to win world titles in 8 different weight classes.
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On September 17, 2016, before a crowd of 51,420, Canelo Álvarez defeated Liam Smith by knockout in round nine to win the WBO light middleweight title. The event broke the AT&T Stadium attendance record for boxing.
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On February 14, 2010, the stadium hosted the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. With an announced crowd of 108,713, the game became the highest-attended basketball game in history, setting a new Guinness World Record. The East squad prevailed with a 141–139 victory over the West.
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It was the 59th edition of the NBA All-Star Game. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference, 141–139. The East's Dwyane Wade, who sank 28 points on 75% shooting, delivered 11 assists, pulled 6 rebounds and grabbed 5 steals, was named as the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.
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Chris Bosh topped the East with 10 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony led the West scorers with 27 points. While Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire led the rebounders with10 each and Steve Nash topped the assists with 13 for the West All-Stars.
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David Reid of USA won the 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold medal in the light middleweight class. He became professional world champion winning the WBA super welterweight title in 1999-2000.
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Willie Smith of South Africa won the 1924 Paris Olympic gold medal in the bantamweight class. He became professional world champion winning the British Pro bantamweight title in 1927.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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