By James Slater: Though he will have to do a lot more to be recognized as a genuine, legit world champion in the opinion of many fans, Mexico’s Saul Alvarez grabbed his first belt last night in California. Hammering out a near-shutout over a game, naturally smaller Matthew Hatton, “Canelo” made boxing history by becoming the youngest ever holder of a “world” light-middleweight title at just 20-years-of-age.
Hatton, who later claimed not to have been hurt, lost every single round apart from the 7th, when Alvarez was deducted a point for a stray low blow. A number of people expected Alvarez, now 36-0-1(26) to stop Hatton, perhaps in the middle rounds, but “Magic” deserves big respect for hanging in there and refusing to quit. Hatton, who fell to 41-5-2(19) said later that he plans to drop back down to his natural weight class of welterweight, but that he does not regret taking the big opportunity he was afforded last night. As for Alvarez, he says he will be the next big name from the fighting country of Mexico. He will, however, have to face some bigger and better fighters as he defends his new belt. “Canelo” says he plans to do just that.
“He’s [Hatton] a good fighter,” Alvarez said post-fight. “People criticized him, but he was a tough guy. This was a great experience for me. This was my first world title shot, but it’s the first of many, and I’ll win them all for my fans. I want to fight the biggest and the best. I’m going to be the next big name of Mexico.”
It sure will be interesting to see who Alvarez fights in his first title defence, and how soon he makes it. It’s likely the Golden Boy-promoted star will continue to be moved fast, and there are a number of exciting-looking match-ups he could be involved in at 154. Any one of Kermit Cintron, Ryan Rhodes, Alfredo Angulo, Cornelius Bundrage and Sechew Powell would make an ideal first challenger for Alvarez – but will Golden Boy allow their new champ a “safe” first defence?
A new star, possibly a future superstar, became a champion last night, and the fans in Mexico love him for it. Oscar De La Hoya says Alvarez can definitely become a great and maybe he can. At 5’9,” the “kid” who will turn 21 in July could conceivably go up as high as super-middleweight one day. For now, though, the new WBC ruler must solidify his championship status with retentions over worthy challengers at his current weight.
In other action on the card:
Daniel Jacobs TKO 1 Robert Kliewer
Seth Mitchell TKO 2 Charles Davis
Adrien Broner UD 10 Daniel Ponce de Leon
James Kirkland TKO 1 Ahsandi Gibbs