Canelo was outpointed by Mayweather in a 2013 Showtime superfight. Photo by Naoki Fukuda
A teacher at work.
On September 14, 2013, Floyd Mayweather added the Ring and WBC junior middleweight titles to his version of the WBA by posting a dominant 12-round majority decision over the previously undefeated Canelo Alvarez of Mexico. The official scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.
Now, the words “dominant” and “majority decision” rarely, if ever, appear in the same sentence. However, the official result does not tell the story. Judge CJ Ross, who had the temerity to score this fight six rounds to six, never returned to work.
This was a landslide victory for Floyd Mayweather.
The marker was not the only controversy. Even though there was a treasure trove of junior middleweight gold at stake, the fight was contested at a catchweight of 152 pounds. Always the businessman as well as the legit A-side, Mayweather jumped at the chance to put the champion – and the bigger man – through some extra hassle in training camp.
On the night, however, this fight was about skill, speed and reflexes, which Mayweather had in spades. Canelo landed the occasional meaty shot to the head and enjoyed success to the body, but was unable to inflict serious damage. Mayweather was a genius at distance control and picked his punches beautifully.
A victory was out of Canelo’s reach long before the bell rang to begin round 12. Only 23 years old at the time, the Mexican star would ultimately see this experience as a learning curve. Mayweather, still the boxing scholar at the age of 36, was in stunning form in one of the biggest fights of his career. There were some hosts who scored every round for him.
“Mexico has had some great champions and Canelo is a true champion,” Mayweather said afterward. “I just heard from my dad, he had a great game plan: take my time.”
“He’s a great fighter,” Canelo acknowledged. “He’s very experienced, he’s very smart, he’s very slippery; he is as simple as that. The frustration was getting to me. I just didn’t know how to catch him.”
