Ok, I will not be the first to say it, but Angulo looked slow, ponderous, and asleep. Granted he is sometimes a slow starter, but there was always a crispness to his shots. However, if one had to guess, 3 or 4 rounds in, which of the two had trouble making 154, nobody would have guessed Canelo. His punches looked crisp, hard, and his movement and defense were very impressive. This confirmed what many people had expected... Angulo was chosen to make Alvarez look good.
Canelo has long had overrated power, and underrated defense. The way he made Trout miss was particularly impressive, yet his own offense suffered, and in a fairly run state (unlike Texas), Canelo may have even been in trouble on the scorecards in that fight. He needed a foil that would allow him to be the slick boxer. To recapture the moves, and public's imagination, after being outboxed by Floyd Mayweather. Angulo was that perfect dance partner, but no one expected the result to be this one-sided, round after round.
Angulo barely started to wake up when Joe Cortez waved it off after one uppercut in round 10. That marks the 5th consecutive stoppage win that Canelo has achieved via early referee trigger. Lopez, Gomez, Cintron, and Rhodes also watched a referee wave their hands while clearly still alert. This could be because of the loud thud with which Alvarez lands his shots, or because of how far these men were behind, or because of Golden Boy hinting to the refs to protect their investment. Either way, he has not had a legit KO over a legit fighter since his one-punch crushing of Carlos Baldomir, which now appears to be the exception, rather than the rule.
If he moves up to 160lbs, the KOs will need even more help. Therefore, he needs to win via his defense and movement, which are underrated. However, this fight tells us nothing about them. Yes, he was dominant. Yes, he was hardly touched. Would it be the same against Erislandy Lara or the winner of Cotto-Martinez? No way. However, he does figure to be able to outbox Cotto, and depending on how much Sergio has left, Martinez as well. the real question is, he has been built up in the same "viva Meheeco" way as many Latino fighters. He is not going to succeed by going to war. I wonder if the fans will love him anyway, once the dull decisions start to pile up.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
