Canelo Álvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs was a professional boxing match contested on 4 May 2019, for the WBA, WBC, IBF and The Ring Middleweight championship.
Background After moving up to Super middleweight in December 2018 to defeat Rocky Fielding, Canelo Álvarez announced in January 2019 he would return to the Middleweight division to face Daniel Jacobs in an attempt to unify his WBA, WBC and The Ring belts with Jacobs' IBF title. Álvarez would state in the announcement "I have no doubt that I will be victorious and that I'll be one step away from becoming the undisputed middleweight world champion."
Jacobs expressed confidence based on his strong showing against Gennady Golovkin two years earlier, "People said GGG hit too hard and I took everything he had and there’s no way that Canelo hits that hard".
The two boxers had to be pulled apart during the weigh-in. The bout included a rehydration clause of 10 pounds. But Jacobs came in 3.7lb over a contracted rehydration limit of 170lbs the morning of the bout (a stipulation demanded by Álvarez’s team), costing him nearly $1,000,000 of his $10,000,000 guaranteed purse.
The fight Canelo was the busier fighter in the early rounds, Jacobs using his rangy left jab to keep Álvarez at bay however the Mexican's elusive upper-body movement prevented him from scoring frequently. A switch to southpaw in round five and seven, gave Jacobs some success and a big left hook in ninth round momentarily stopped Canelo in his tracks. For the most part however Álvarez's more accurate puncher and superior defensive work kept him in control of the action. At the end of 12 rounds all three judges scored the bout for Álvarez, with two scores of 115–113 and one of 116–112 giving him a unanimous decision victory.
Aftermath Speaking after the bout Álvarez said "It was just what we thought, we knew he was going to be a difficult fighter. It was just what we thought because of the style of fight that he brings, but we just did our job." Jacobs would admit that the task of making the middleweight limit was become difficult, saying "It is taking a toll on my body and it’s showing, I might have outgrown the middleweight division, and I might take my talents to super middleweight."
Despite now holding three of the four belts at middleweight, Álvarez opted not to face WBO titleholder Demetrius Andrade, to attempt to become the first Undisputed middleweight champion since Jermain Taylor in 2005. Instead he would move up two weight divisions to face WBO Light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
Undercard Confirmed bouts: Winner Loser Weight division/title belt(s) disputed Result Vergil Ortiz Jr. Mauricio HerreraLight welterweight (10 rounds)3rd round KO Joseph Diaz Freddy Fonsecavacant WBA Gold super featherweight title7th round TKO Lamont Roach Jr. Jonathan OquendoNABO and WBO International Super featherweight titlesUnanimous decisionPreliminary bouts Anthony Young Sadam Alivacant WBC USA Silver Welterweight title3rd round TKO John Ryder Bilal Akkawyvacant WBA interim Super middleweight title3rd round TKO Aram Avagyan Francisco EsparzaWBC International Silver FeatherweightUnanimous decision Alexis Espino Billy WagnerSuper middleweight (4 rounds)Unanimous decision
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