The arena is mostly full as we wait for the fighters to make their entrances. There are large pockets of empty seats in the high-rent districts, though. Turns out the lack of a major network pumping a fight non-stop makes a difference when it comes to buzz, which has been strangely lacking during the run-up despite the high quality of the matchup.
Gennady Golovkin, who is watching tonight’s fights from ringside, appears on the big screen for a brief interview and he’s showered with boos from the pro-Canelo crowd. Golovkin, who fights the unheralded Steve Rolls in a stay-busy fight on 8 June at Madison Square Garden, told the interviewer that he’s here because he wants a third meeting Álvarez next.
Well, that was quick. Vergil Ortiz Jr showed why he’s one of the welterweight divison’s most exciting prospects by blasting out Mauricio Herrera in three. Ortiz dropped his opponent at the end of the second round with a flurry of punches, then detonated a right hand square on the button early in round three that had Herrera, who had never been stopped in 32 pro fights, out on his feet. The stoppage of Herrera, Ortiz improves to 13-0 with 13 knockouts.
“I had the fight figured out in the first round,” Ortiz says.
Next up: Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez v Daniel Jacobs for the WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to T-Mobile Arena for tonight’s middleweight title unification fight between Canelo Álvarez and Daniel Jacobs. We’ve got a dandy of a matchup on hand between Álvarez, who holds the WBA and WBC title belts, and Jacobs, who captured the vacant IBF strap from Serhiy Derevianchenko in October.
Both fighters made the division limit of 160lbs at Friday’s spicy weigh-in, but there’s been no shortage of intrigue in the hours since. Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Álvarez, told ESPN that Jacobs came in 3.7lbs over the contracted rehydration limit of 170lbs scheduled for Saturday morning, a stipulation demanded by Canelo’s team during the negotiations. The reported penalty for the Saturday morning weight check was a reported $250,000 per pound, meaning Jacobs could be facing the loss of nearly a tenth of his $10m guaranteed purse. The infraction won’t affect the belts, all three of which are still on the table.
Jacobs has never been one to sacrifice performance for weight. It worked out for him well in the Gennady Golovkin fight, when he blew off the IBF’s mandated check in a decision that cost him his chance for that body’s title belt. The Brooklynite went on to lose a disputed split decision to Golovkin in a performance that managed to elevate his profile.
The final undercard fight, a scheduled 10-rounder between unbeaten welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr and durable veteran Mauricio Herrera, is about to start. After that, Canelo and Jacobs will make their entrances.