1) Size matters
We didn’t need Alvarez dominating Charlo over 12 rounds to know this to be true, but receiving additional examples of why weight classes exist never does any harm. Taller though he may have been, Charlo had no answer for Alvarez’s strength or firepower.
2) Superfights sometimes disappoint
Alvarez vs. Charlo certainly isn’t the first superfight to let the boxing world down, nor will it be the last. Yet there is always something sobering whenever it happens; a reminder that, despite all the pre-fight hype and the storylines, ultimately all that counts is what happens in the ring on the night.
3) Alvarez has still got it
There were concerns following his wins – yes, wins – against Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder that Alvarez may be slowing down and that his ferocity of old may have dulled in 2023. However, the Mexican showed no signs of this against Charlo, maintaining a decent pace for 12 rounds and losing not one of them.
4) Alvarez won’t fight Crawford
Reported after the fight to have said, “He is not in my plan,” when asked about welterweight king Terence Crawford, it would seem Alvarez doesn’t believe the risk-reward ratio in that instance is worth fighting a man that much smaller than him.
5) Charlo might fight Crawford
Discussed before the fight, it’s almost a shame Charlo went ahead with the Canelo drubbing rather than fight Crawford instead. For although that fight will still carry some appeal next year, its superfight status is reduced somewhat by Charlo’s showing on Saturday night.
6) Low output
According to the punch stats, Charlo landed 71 of 398 thrown punches on Saturday, which is an average of just six punches a round. That’s not good enough in a fight of this magnitude.
7) A hiding to nothing
The concern whenever a bigger fighter drags a smaller fighter into their domain is that the victor won’t get the credit they deserve for coming out on top. That would appear to be the case with Alvarez, too, who will almost suffer now for (a) forcing Charlo out of his weight division and (b) thrashing him so easily.
8) Money is everything
While it could be argued that without being handsomely paid there is absolutely no reason to get punched in the first place, there still surely must be enough reasons for a man like Charlo to say “no” when presented with the Canelo Alvarez challenge. Would staying in his natural weight class, or even just moving up one division, really have been that bad?
9) Canelo is an ox
After the fight Charlo, whose respect Alvarez wanted to win, described the night’s winner as “an ox” and a “mother**king beast”, pointing out that he was much stronger than he expected him to be.
10) The weigh-in told a story
Although weigh-ins typically reveal very little, seeing images of Jermell Charlo as a super-middleweight had plenty of people either changing their predictions entirely or amending them just a little.
