The idea of Jermell Charlo moving up two weight classes to challenge Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight championship is already considered a gargantuan task for the undisputed champion at 154 pounds to overcome. However, the act of beating Canelo on the scorecards in Las Vegas is perhaps an even bigger mountain to climb. As history tells us, convincing the judges that you have won more rounds than Canelo in a boxing match is almost impossible.
People have said that Jermell Charlo must knock Canelo out in order to leave Las Vegas with the undisputed super middleweight championship. Is that true?
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Considering how Las Vegas has found ways to give Canelo rounds in fights that it doesn't feel like he deserves, Charlo will have to do everything in his power to keep the fight from going to the scorecards.
Canelo’s history of favorable scorecards starts with his 2013 unanimous decision victory over Austin Trout, the first major boxing event that Canelo headlined. Although it wasn’t in Vegas, the seed was planted that there would always be at least one scorecard that was heavily skewed toward Canelo.
In most observer’s eyes, Canelo bested Trout by roughly two to three rounds rounds. However, an obscene 118-109 scorecard raised more than a few eyebrows. Although the right man won, the score was cause for alarm. That carried over into Canelo’s showdown with Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez
- Date/ Location: September 14, 2013/ MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Canelo was on the biggest stage he had ever been on and was grossly outclassed by Mayweather in a fight that wasn’t even close. According to Compubox, Mayweather outlanded Canelo 232 to 117 and connected on 46% of his punches to Canelo’s 22%. Most ringside observers struggled to find three rounds to give Canelo. Yet, judge C.J. Ross managed to score the fight even at 114-114. This scorecard was so egregious that she stepped down from judging after drawing significant criticism for her card. Interestingly enough, that terrible scorecard overshadowed an also inept 116-112 scorecard by Judge Dave Moretti. Out of 86 media scorecards, nobody had it closer than 116-113 with an average score of 119-109 in favor of Mayweather.
This trend of favorable scorecards for Canelo was only getting started.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara
- Date/ Location: July 12, 2014/ MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Less than a year later, Canelo was back in action against Erislandy Lara following a stoppage of Alfredo Angulo. The crafty Cuban gave Canelo all he could handle in a nip-and-tuck affair, which saw Canelo win a split decision that could have gone either way. One judge had it 115-113 Canelo while another saw it in favor of Lara by the same margin. But the final score for Canelo was an impossibly wide tally of 117-111. This was the third consecutive decision for Canelo that had at least one questionable scorecard for the Mexican star.
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Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez
- Date/ Location: November 21, 2015/ Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas
Following his brutal third-round knockout of James Kirkland in Texas, Canelo returned to Vegas to face Miguel Cotto. In what appeared to be a closely contested fight that Canelo deserved to edge out, the judges would have you think that it was an utterly one-sided affair, posting scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111. The right man won, but few had that much of a disparity between the two fighters.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin 1
- Date/ Location: September 16, 2017/ T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Canelo knocked out Amir Khan and Liam Smith in his next two fights before dominating an absolutely listless Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for one of the few Vegas scorecards without controversy and then stepped into the ring in September 2017 against Gennadiy Golovkin for a highly anticipated middleweight championship showdown.
And it happened yet again.
A fight that many onlookers scored for Golovkin ended in a split draw that kept Canelo from adding another loss to his career. According to MMA Decisions, out of 26 media scorecards, 22 scored it for Golovkin — with most having it 116-112 — and only three observers ending up with a draw. Only one scorecard had it for Canelo with a 115-113 score.
As for the actual judges? That’s a different story.
One judge had it 115-113 for Golovkin while another had it a draw. That third judge, Adalaide Byrd, somehow scored the fight 118-110 for Canelo, giving GGG only two rounds out of a possible 12.
The rematch took place a year later and the media scores were a lot closer than the previous fight with 10 ruling in favor of Golovkin, seven seeing it as a draw, and only one judge scoring it for Canelo. The actual scorecards had it as a majority decision for Canelo with two judges scoring it 115-113 for Canelo and the third having it as a draw.
Golovkin insists that he was robbed twice.
It didn’t stop there.
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Sergey Kovalev vs. Canelo Alvarez
- Date/ Location: November 2, 2019/ MGM Grand, Las Vegas
After knocking out Rocky Fielding at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in 2018, Canelo headed back to Vegas for a title unification bout with Daniel Jacobs. For the first time since the Chavez fight, there were no scoring concerns as Canelo won an appropriately scored unanimous decision.
Canelo then made the leap up to light heavyweight to challenge Sergey Kovalev for the WBO championship. Although Canelo won by 11th-round knockout, a majority of the onlookers felt that Canelo was in danger of losing a decision before the late stoppage. However, two of the ringside judges scored it 96-94 for Canelo while a third had it a draw. If there’s ever a question of who is winning a close fight, it almost always goes to Canelo.
Dmitry Bivol vs. Canelo Alvarez
- Date/ Location: May 7, 2022/ MGM Grand, Las Vegas
On his journey to become the undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo dominated the competition by routing Callum Smith in Texas, knocking out Avni Yildirim in Florida, stopping Billy Joe Saunders in Texas, and then returning to Vegas to knock out Caleb Plant, claiming all four belts.
Canelo took his proper place as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and then dared to be great by challenging Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title on May 7 in Las Vegas. This time he'd bitten off more than he could chew and lost what was perceived as a wide decision.
And then the scorecards were read.
Although many media scores had it for Bivol with an average score of 117-111, the three ringside judges only felt that Bivol narrowly escaped with a 115-113 victory. The right man won, but what was thought to be a blowout was scored as a narrow victory.
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This brings us to Jermell Charlo.
Charlo has found himself on the wrong side of close decisions in a loss to Tony Harrison and a draw with Brian Castano. Neither is close to the level of Canelo Alvarez. But Charlo won't have to just beat Canelo, he'll have to beat a history of judges who favor Canelo no matter what.
Good luck.