Boxing

Canelo vs Charlo: Lions Only land 71 punches in 12 rounds, Crawford snubs Charlo, Tszyu is WBO champ

According to CompuBox, in a 12-round fight, Jermell Charlo landed 71 of 398 punches on Canelo Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. That’s an average of six punches per round, which is a touch more than what Canelo’s son playfully landed on his father in the dressing room before the Mexican star made his ring walk.

MORE: Full card results for Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

We’ve seen bad fights before but Canelo’s 12-round unanimous decision whitewash of Charlo was next-level dreadful. This was the undisputed super middleweight championship of the world. This was undisputed versus undisputed. This was marketed as an authentic superfight. This had pound-for-pound ramifications. This had an $84.95 PPV price tag attached by lead broadcaster Showtime.

Full disclosure: The warning sign was up on display months ago.

When this fight was announced, many of us cringed because it looked like Jermell Charlo had received his brother’s party invitation by mistake. After all, despite being an excellent fighter and an undisputed champion, Jermell was a career super welterweight. Meanwhile, twin brother Jermall was the WBC middleweight champ and would only have been moving up one weight class for the opportunity to face Canelo.

The good news for Jermell is that he’s millions of dollars richer. The bad news is that his reputation has taken a direct hit and his future plans may be more limited than they were before:

Will we see Jermell Charlo vs. Tim Tszyu?

Tszyu, the unbeaten boxer-puncher from Australia, has been the WBO 154-pound mandatory challenger for two years. A January 2023 date with Charlo fell through when the champ was injured, and Tszyu was then given the brush-off when the American entered the Canelo sweepstakes.

“Of course I’m going to take a bigger opportunity like Canelo over Tim Ta-Zoo,” said Charlo during an interview with Main Event’s Ben Damon in Las Vegas during fight week.

“Who is Tim Ta-Zoo? Australia knows, but not the world of boxing. I’m the man. I’m the one who did it in boxing. Tim Ta-Zoo didn’t do nothing in boxing. So tell him to stay humble, keep quiet and time will tell. I’m going to fight and make quadruple the money he ever will probably see his whole career.”

Yes, champ, you’ll “make quadruple the money” and turn in a performance that had fans heading for the exit during the championship rounds. If I find the time, I’m going to count the amount of occasions you released the right hand in 12 rounds of combat. I’m banking that it was less than 30 times. What happened to “Lions Only”?

Charlo was stripped of the WBO super welterweight title as soon as the bell rang for his bout against Canelo. It’s justice that Tszyu, previously the interim champ, has been upgraded to full WBO world titleholder and will make his first defense against Brian Mendoza on October 15 in the Gold Coast.

At the post-fight press conference, Charlo suggested that a Tszyu fight might happen, but he didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic.

MORE: Social media reaction to Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

Will we see Jermell Charlo vs. Terence Crawford?

On July 29, Terence Crawford, the undisputed welterweight champ, was calling out Jermell Charlo while simultaneously battering Errol Spence Jr. to pieces in Las Vegas.

Had Charlo and Crawford fought each other, the latter would have had a chance to become boxing’s first three-time undisputed champion since Henry Armstrong (granted, Armstrong held three undisputed championships at once, but still).

Now, that Canelo has taken Charlo to school, stole his lunch money, and forced him to walk home in the rain, who the hell wants to see Charlo vs. Crawford now? Hey, you can repackage it and put a spin on Charlo being back at his natural weight, but that fight will never be the same again – ever.

Charlo sounded a lot more interested in Crawford than Tzsyu, but “Bud” made his feelings clear on social media.

Like anyone with half a brain that’s been around boxing for a significant period of time, I admire fighters immensely. I admire Jermell Charlo – he’s a quality world champion – and I can’t blame him for taking a monster payday that will set up future generations of his family. I just resent the fact that he didn’t turn up for this fight. Some random fan on Twitter informed me that the challenger was, in fact, showcasing “the sweet science”, which is profound in its stupidity. What Charlo did was retreat and use his ring savvy to stay alive.

Canelo can’t be blamed for the lack of action. The Mexican star is an adept counter puncher but there was very little to counter. At one point, Charlo’s trainer, Derrick James, told his fighter, “He’s tired now!” How the hell could Canelo be tired? He was standing between rounds and looked bored out of his mind while the fight was in progress. I also noticed Jermall having a good old laugh in the crowd before the bell for Round 12. I don’t know why he was laughing. I can’t imagine the corporate heads at Showtime will be in a hurry to make a Canelo vs. Charlo 2 of any description.

Yes, boxing has had a lot to celebrate in 2023, but Canelo vs. Charlo, regardless of how many belts the fighters brought into the ring last night, was a massive disappointment that did nothing for the sport.

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