Canelo ?lvarez did exactly what he was supposed to against an overmatched opponent: he closed the show.
The 28-year-old superstar dropped Liverpool?s Rocky Fielding four times in a little over eight minutes on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to win the WBA super middleweight championship and join an elite group of Mexican fighters to capture world titles in three different weight classes before a sold-out crowd of 20,112.
?lvarez threw crisp, patient combinations from the opening bell as Fielding, who enjoyed five-inch advantages in height and reach, tried to leverage his physical assets by doubling and tripling up the jab. But the redheaded puncher from Guadalajara had no respect for Fielding?s power and charged right into the pocket, unloading with textbook shots to the body and sending Fielding to the canvas with about a minute left in the round on a left hook. Fielding beat the count and made it to the bell, but the unmistakable look of concern on his face spoke volumes.
The constellation of factors conducive to a Fielding upset was always going to include ?lvarez having an off night, but it was clear that wasn?t in the offing from early in the second when the Mexican began pouring on the punishment and rearranging Fielding?s insides with exquisite body work. A massive left-right combo upstairs by ?lvarez caught a lot of leather but still appeared to hurt the bigger man. Then another left sent Fielding to the canvas with about 20 seconds left in the round. He beat the count and the bell once more, but the end was near.
The worst of it, predictably, came in the abbreviated third as ?lvarez picked Fielding off with one body shot after another. Fielding did his best to fire back and landed his best combinations of the fight in those final minutes, but ?lvarez walked right through them. The brave Fielding made it to his feet after the third knockdown from another left to the body, but referee Ricky Gonzalez correctly waved it off at the 2:38 mark after he was sent down a fourth time with a right hand upstairs.
