Saul "Canelo Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO) faced the stiffest test of his career Saturday night when he stepped into the ring with Austin Trout (26-1-0, 14 KO) but scored a unanimous decision victory in a bout that unified all the belts in the 154-pound division.
Alvarez was unable to stalk and bully Trout as easily as he had against lesser or timeworn opponents such as Kermit Cintron or the aged "Sugar" Shane Mosley. Trout possesses superior defensive ability and hand speed to those fighters, and it showed early on as Alvarez was visibly frustrated at several points.
The final stats indicated that Trout was the busier, more aggressive fighter, landing 154 of 769 punches, compared with 124 of 431 for Alvarez, but there was a stark difference in the percentage of power punches landed. Alvarez was connecting at a 43 percent rate in that category, while Trout only landed 27 percent of his power shots.
Alvarez also dropped Trout to the canvas for the first time in his career in the seventh round with a devastating straight right hand that caught Trout flush on the chin and bloodied his lip. ''He caught me with a good shot,'' Trout said. ''There is nothing else I can say.''
Trout was humble in defeat, saying 'I'll take the loss like a man. The better man won tonight. He was better than me. I have no excuses.'' He also admitted that Alvarez' style confused him, saying, 'He shocked us, I was prepared for a different fighter. I tried to pressure the action and change things up, but he kept changing.''
Alvarez had a strong motivation to win that went beyond draping belts over his shoulder. He wanted to avenge a 2011 loss that Trout handed his brother Rigoberto in Guadalajara, Mexico, the hometown of the Alvarez family.
'My brother was a big motivation for this,'' Alvarez said. ''I did this for him. He beat my brother, and that's my blood.''
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