Saul “Canelo” Alvarez Defeats Austin Trout To Unify Jr. Middleweight Titles… Yet Controversy Remains

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (left) landing a left hand on Austin Trout (right) in Saturday night’s WBC and WBA Jr. Middleweight Unification bout in San Antonio, Texas.  Photo by Tom Casino of Showtime

By. BrotherJR

April 23, 2013

2013 continues to be a really terrific year for high profile bouts.  That trend was continued last Saturday with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez unanimous decision victory over Austin Trout, and in the process unifying the WBC and WBA Jr. Middleweight titles.  With Canelo’s victory, he also won the Ring Magazine Jr. Middleweight title.   While Canelo won, the bout raised questions about not only the wide margin in which Canelo won, but raised a bit of a firestorm about the legitimacy of open scoring.  This is boxing, you know that even in good bouts, sadly, there’s some kind of controversy that must raise its ugly head.

Canelo-Trout was a close and competitive bout all the way through.  Through the first four rounds, the bout was even as both fighters had their moments.   Canelo hurt Trout with body shots in round two, and staggered Trout with a right hand in round four.  Trout fought back and landed solid right hooks of his own.  While Canelo landed the harder and more telling shots, Trout was the more active fighter throwing more punches and fighting hard.  After six rounds, Canelo started to show some signs of fatigue as Trout won round 5 and , especially round 6, in impressive fashion.  At times during those rounds, it was the boxer Trout moving forward and forcing Alvarez to fight backwards.  Things dramatically changed for Alvarez in round seven when he knocked down Trout early in the round with a hard right hand that had Trout visibly hurt and wobbled.  The southpaw Trout, to his credit, came back and fought hard in that round, landing hard lefts of his own.  Trout continued the mini-rally in round 8 as he took advantage of Canelo, seemingly taking the round off, to win the round emphatically.  Over the final three rounds of the fight, it was Canelo that used his head and food movement, as well as landing just enough punches to thwart the charge of a desperate Trout to secure the victory.   What was surprising was the defensive ability and poise that was displayed throughout by Canelo. It was thought that Trout was the slickster heading in, but it was Canelo Alvarez that made miss.  Understand, Canelo was no Pernell Whitaker in there, but he showed surprising upper-body movement making Trout miss with shot to the head.

The controversy lies withing the scoring of the bout.  On my official scorecard, I had Austin Trout winning the fight by two points.  However, I have no qualms with Canelo Alvarez getting the victory.  First off, the fight was that close and could have gone either way.  Secondly, you knew heading in that given where the bout was fought and given Canelo Alvarez stature in boxing right now, if the bout was close, he would get the edge.  My issue is the margins of the scores.  The scores were 115-112 by Rey Danseco,  116-111 by Oren Shellenberger, 118-109 by Stanley Christodoulou.  While I really have no problem with the score by judge Danesco, the score by Shellenberger I really question and the score from Christidoulou I find outrageous.  A 118-109 score says that according to Stanley Christodoulou, Canelo Alvarez won ten rounds, while Trout only won two rounds, and to any objective eye that was watching that fight, there’s no way that was the case.  If Christidoulou didn’t see that Trout won rounds 3, 5, 6, and 8 clearly, then it suggest that no matter what Trout did, the fight was in Canelo’s hands no matter what.  That leads me to believe that something awry raises questions about him.  Sure Canelo may have one, but not by the margins that the judges had that bout.

As a result of the judges scorecards, it puts a stain on the idea of open scoring system in professional boxing.  In pro boxing, at the end of the fourth and eighth rounds, the official judges scorecards are read out with both fighters knowing where they stand at that point.  Well, after the eight round, the scores were 76-75, 78-73, and 80-71.  With that fact in hand, Canelo took advantage and coasted a times during the last 4 rounds, knowing that he had the fight in the bag.  Sure, some would say that Canelo Alvarez played it smart.  However, this is boxing, and I don’t know if I like when a fighter coast and essentially runs out the clock in that fashion, especially in a bout of such importance.

Ultimately, Canelo Alvarez will go on to bigger and better things.  Hopefully, that will mean a future showdown with Floyd Mayweather later on this year, if not early next year.  Don’t sleep on Austin Trout.  He is a quality fighter who I believe would beat any other Jr. Middleweight in the world.  His excellent showing will only heighten his profile.  At the end of the day, this was a terrific bout, even if it’s marred somewhat by the judges scorecards and the open scoring system.  This was another bout in a year full of good bouts.  Despite my issues with the Alvarez-Trout contest last Saturday, if this means more terrific bout for what has been a standout year of boxing in 2013, I will gladly accept it and ask for more.