Canelo Alvarez trounces Jermell Charlo to retain undisputed title

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez pushed and pushed for the knockout that eluded him in his three previous fights, but it never materialized on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

That was no fault of his own.

Alvarez floored Jermell Charlo in Round 7 with an overhand right, the second knockdown of the challenger’s career, and but there weren’t many more opportunities for the KO in what ended up being a lopsided unanimous decision for Alvarez, who made the third defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship.

Charlo wasn’t willing to engage and rarely threw a punch. He moved away from Canelo’s power shots all night but never attempted to make him pay.

Two judges scored the fight 118-109, with the other tally 119-108.

“Nobody can compete with this Canelo,” said Alvarez, boxing’s top star and ESPN’s No. 4 pound-for-pound boxer.

“Two months in the mountains (training near Lake Tahoe) without my family. I still love boxing. I love boxing so f—ing much. Boxing is my life. Boxing made me the person I am today.”

Charlo entered the ring the undisputed junior middleweight champion and had never competed above 154 pounds before. He was stripped of his WBO title once the fight started and said he would return to 154 pounds where he still holds three titles. Australian star Tim Tszyu will defend the WBO belt on Saturday against Brian Mendoza.

“I feel like it wasn’t me in there,” Charlo said. “I don’t make excuses. You win some, you lose some. I’m undisputed in my weight; I was daring to be great. I’m proud of myself. He didn’t knock me out, he knocked all the other guys out.”