Saul Alvarez Puts “El Perro” Down in Ten

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In the main event of Showtime’s “Toe-to-Toe” pay-per-view event, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 knockouts) took on Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-4, 18 knockouts) in a fight that saw both men attempting to rebound from a previous loss. Although the fight was advertised as being a war of attrition between two brawlers that wasn’t entirely accurate. Sure, Angulo is a brawler through-and-through, but it was no secret that Alvarez had the better boxing technique between the two. Still, the people expected a memorable fight, and for the most part they got it.

In the opening bell of the bout, it was clear that Alvarez had studied tape on his opponent. Angulo makes no secret of the fact that he is the type of fighter to come out swinging early in hopes of putting you away before he gasses, and that is exactly why Alvarez made sure to seize the momentum early and tag his opponent with big shots from the onset. With a hook and a following body shot, Alvarez was making it clear that he wanted to be as aggressive as he was calculated in the ring, and for the most part it worked in spades.

Alvarez battered his offense-minded opponent with a mix of boxing skill, heavy punches, and blinding hand speed that were clearly giving Angulo problems. In typical fashion however, Angulo continued coming forward knowing all he had to do was land a series of shots to concuss his opponent. Thanks to a surprisingly slow hand speed, that never happened for Angulo, and whenever he did try to get something going in the way of offense “Canelo” responded with a counter that would immediately stop the Angulo flurry.

As the fight continued it was clear that neither Angulo’s gameplan nor the momentum swing of this fight was going to change. Alvarez continued to pick Angulo apart at will, but in classic Angulo fashion the Mexican fan favorite stood his ground and did his best to hurt Alvarez. The fight continued the same back-and-forth, but still one-sided manner well into the eighth round which finally saw both men engage in an absolute fire fight along the ropes. Each fighter took the others best, and it was clear that the crowd was loving it. Sure, Angulo had taken a lot of punishment at this point in the point, but considering his resume that wasn’t anything new or deterring for the Mexican.

Unfortunately for Angulo, referee Tony Weeks was keeping tabs on the damage Angulo was sustaining and after a massive uppercut by Alvarez in the tenth round, Weeks decided to step in and prevent Angulo from taking any further punishment. It was a stoppage that the crowd, Angulo’s corner, and Angulo himself protested, but the fans made it clear after pelting the ring with water bottles and beer cans.

It may not have been the end people wanted to see, but it was a fight that was well worth the watch. With the win, Alvarez has managed to rebound from his loss at the hands of Floyd Mayweather, but for Angulo the loss does little to his status as an all-action fan favorite among boxing fans.