Due to the last minute cancellation of Molina vs. Charlo, fans who tuned into to the Alfredo Angulo vs. Saul Alvarez pay-per-view were treated to an opening bout which featured Ricardo Alvarez (23-3-3, 14 knockouts) take on last minute replacement Sergio Thompson (29-3, 26 knockouts). With the original opponent being Omar Figueroa, many automatically assumed that the older Alvarez brother would easily beat a fighter like Thompson, but with 26 of his 29 total fights ending by knockout, Thompson was a much more dangerous opponent than anyone expected; especially Alvarez.
From the opening round it was clear that Thompson was going to be more than a handful for Alvarez after seemingly stunning his opponent for a moment in the first minute of the fight. Things didn’t get much better from that moment on, and it was becoming clear that all Ricardo shares with his superstar brother Saul is a pair of parents and a last name. With almost no head movement or adequate defense, Alvarez would get manage to get hit with whatever Thompson threw.
Still, Alvarez managed to stay in the fight and often went toe-to-toe with Thompson in hopes of nabbing a stoppage. These outbursts of offense would successfully manage to force Thompson back, but the issue was that Alvarez still managed to take punishment as well. This was clear in the third round after Thompson managed to knock Alvarez down against the ropes. Gunning for a finish, Thompson charged forward, but Alvarez managed to fight back and survive the round.
The two continued the rather relentless pace through five rounds before Thompson managed to once again wobble Alvarez in the sixth. Going into the seventh round, Alvarez must have sensed the probable points deficit and managed to pin Thompson along the ropes with a volley of punches. Against a visibly tired Thompson, Alvarez was determined to steal the momentum, but that hope quickly faded after Thompson threw a massive counter that dropped Alvarez at the start of the eighth round.
Fatigue eventually got the best of Thompson, and for the last two round he was essentially trying to survive, knowing that he had to have built a healthy lead on the scorecards. Still, Alvarez charged forward and did his best to stop his opponent, but after ten hard fought rounds that end never came.
The (questionably close) unanimous decision was (95-93), (97-91), and (95-93) all in favor of Thompson. This shaped up to be a much more significant and entertaining bout than many had expected, but with talks of Omar Figueroa versus Sergio Thompson, it looks like fans will be getting one more in the future.