Just watched the Canelo Alvarez - Callum Smith fight. It was obvious from early on that Smith couldn't hurt Alvarez and that every punch Alvarez through hurt Smith. Even the ones that were blocked moved Smith back. they showed Smith walking back to his dressing room after the fight and his arm was badly swollen. there was talk of a detached muscle and that he'll be on the shelf for a while. Smith through a lot of punches by Canelo walked right through them. Smith was fighting a pillow fight, Alvarez a slugfest.
Still, Smith was game and made it through the bout on his feet, (he's never been knocked down). I gave him one round - the second when Alvarez was still trying to figure his man out and Smith was very active with his jabs and combinations. They can still score even if they don't hurt the other guy. I also made two rounds ever: the first, which had minimal action and the sixth, when Smith was somewhat busier. they had a discussion about even rounds when their scorer grade one even. The announcer said that the boxing commissions discourage even rounds and added that if you found one, you'd have to find half the rounds even. I've never found half the rounds in a fight even but I do believe that if a round was not won decisively or had minimal action, it should not play a role in determining who won the fight. In this case Canelo had 9 other rounds, including the last 6 that he clearly won so i graded it 119-111. Two of the official judges had it 119-109 and the third had it 117-111, so I wasn't far off.
In the post fight analysis, one of DAZN's journalists argued that Canelo is clearly the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world "because he has the best resume". I still think Bud Crawford is #1 because he ahs the most talent and put Errol Spence second. But Alvarez seems to be getting better and better. He's only 30. The question is: who should he fight next? GGG looked pretty good last night but does the public want a third fight between them? There's Demetrius Andrade, who was mouthing off in the post fight interviews, and the Charlo brothers. Do Billy Joe Saunders or Caleb Plant excite you? Spence, who looks like he ahs the body of a middleweight, says he'd like to fight Alvarez. I think he needs to fight Crawford first to establish who is the best welterweight.
*sad Ukrainian noises*
