Canelo Alvarez once again ruled Las Vegas on Cinco de Mayo weekend by defeating Daniel Jacobs in a middleweight unification at the T-Mobile Arena.
Starting brightly, Canelo was in exceptional form in the early stages. The Mexican racked up rounds as Jacobs struggled to get going.
When he did wake up, Jacobs was effective in switching back and forth from the southpaw stance.
Taking some of the middle sessions, Jacobs made a real fight out it but eventually ran out of steam in the latter stages.
Canelo came on strong until the final bell and eventually took a unanimous decision on the cards.
One judge saw it 116-112, whilst the other two had it 115-113. WBN scored it 116-112.
The co-feature saw Vergil Ortiz Jr. once again prove his potential as a future star in the sport.
Taking a one hundred percent KO record into his fight with ex-world title challenger Mauricio Herrera, Ortiz preserved that statistic.
In just two rounds, Ortiz had Herrera all over the place before finishing the job in emphatic style a round later.
Ortiz is now 13-0.
Jo Jo Diaz proved his credentials at super-featherweight with a dominant victory over Freddy Fonseca.
Outclassing Fonseca from the off, Diaz racked up the rounds whilst doing damage in every single session.
Dropping Fonseca at the end of the sixth, the towel came in late in the seventh with Diaz far superior.
John Ryder produced a powerful performance against late replacement Bilal Akkawy. ‘The Gorilla’ took the opening two rounds before dropping Akkawy in the third.
Taking the fight to Canelo’s chief sparring partner, Ryder put Akkawy down again. Referee Jay Nady then monitored the Aussie closely before ending the contest soon after.
In the ring, Ryder was confusingly named the WBA super-middleweight champion of the world after what was thought to be a final eliminator.
It’s not known if the WBA have made up their own rules again or whether Canelo has vacated the ‘Super’ title boosting Callum Smith up the ranks.
Knowing the WBA, it won’t be out of the realms of possibility to simply just add another title holder. More realistically, Ryder could now hold the interim strap.
As things currently stand, there seem to be three separate champions at 168, not to mention a ‘Gold’ ruler in Lennox Allen.
Ryder has put himself in the frame for sterner tests to come and a potential clash with Smith or Canelo himself.
ALI SHOCK
In a shock result, Anthony Young stopped a stunned Sadam Ali in the third session.
Former world champion Ali never looked at the races and seemed lethargic from the off. Young sensed something may be wrong and landed often for the duration.
A body shot began the demise before referee Robert Byrd stepped in.
