The experience of Floyd "Money" Mayweather led to a dominant performance in the late rounds of his victory over Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Saturday, September 14.
It was obvious who was more prepared for the fight, and experience definitely came into play.
Canelo entered this title bout with a record of 42-0-1 with 30 knockouts. His power made him a dangerous threat to Money, but he lacked the necessary experience.
The 23-year-old made his debut in 2005 and has fought in his fair share of tough bouts. He has beaten Shane Mosley and Austin Trout, but neither of them compare to Mayweather. Alvarez had fought on the big stage in Las Vegas only twice entering this fight. He was 2-0 in those fights, with one ending in a knockout.
In the other corner, Mayweather had the edge in experience. The 36-year-old debuted back in 1996, and he has been taking down quality opponents for years. His most recent victories have come against the likes of Robert Guerrero, Miguel Cotto and Oscar De La Hoya.
This latest title bout happened to be his eighth consecutive fight in Las Vegas. Those previous matches can't be overlooked as he knew what to expect coming into the weekend.
The pressure of this big fight wasn't going to get to the champion. He had gone up against tough competitors in the past, so nerves didn't affect him.
Money isn't a power fighter like Alvarez. Only two of his fights at the MGM Grand had ended via the knockout, and only one of those came in the first nine rounds.
Being a great defensive fighter allowed Mayweather to stick to his game plan. He came out aggressive to set the tone against a power fighter, which helped him gain an early lead. His ability to outlast opponents came into play in the later rounds.
Alvarez failed to land more than 22 percent of his punches in any round from the sixth round on. He came into the match having landed 42 percent of his punches in his previous seven fights, but Mayweather's quickness held him to only 22 percent for the match.
Money has only 26 knockouts in his career, so he knows how to wear down his opponents and beat up on them late. He landed over 50 percent of his power punches from the fifth round through the 11th.
It was a relatively close fight early on, but Canelo stood no chance once he was unable to land many powerful punches early on. He lacked the stamina to do much late in the fight, and Mayweather took advantage of that factor.
The best pound-for-pound fighter in the world used his previous experience to execute a great game plan. Money wasn't overwhelmed by being in the spotlight, and Canelo's youth ended up working against him.
Mayweather improved his record to 45-0, and he continues to show that he is the greatest fighter of his generation. Experience played a factor in "The One" as nobody was going to outlast Mayweather in the spotlight.
*All information is courtesy of CompuBoxOnline.com
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment