In July 2018 Rocky Fielding earned the largest win of his profession by beating Tyron Zeuge in Germany. The fifth spherical TKO earned the Liverpudlian the WBA “Regular” Super-Middleweight title.
Two months later in a massively anticipated rematch in Las Vegas Canelo Alvarez defeated rival Gennadiy Golovkin to retain his two middleweight world titles. However, the Mexican fancied a short dip into super-middleweight territory earlier than returning to 160lbs.
The man chosen to be his opponent was Fielding. “Rocky from Stocky” was about to obtain the chance of a lifetime and be effectively paid for what seemed like an unimaginable activity on December 15, 2018, at Madison Square Garden, New York
Ahead of Canelo’s undisputed super-middleweight title defence in opposition to Jaime Munguia on Saturday (May 4) Boxing News has dipped into the archives to carry you John Dennen’s report on Canelo’s first combat at 168lbs.
Original headline: King of New York – Canelo Alvarez demolishes Rocky Fielding
THERE is a lesson we realized. Fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is a painful expertise. Only the elite of the game thrive in opposition to him. Rocky Fielding is a stable fighter, an enormous super-middleweight with weight in his punches. But though Canelo was transferring past his pure division, he was too good, too quick and with out mercy.
He gave Fielding no room to maneuver or breathe. He pressured his sport on Fielding and he did all of it with livid velocity.
Rocky started to jab, making an attempt to push out his left lead and push Alvarez away. But in a short time Canelo was on him.
Every time they’d gone face to face, proper up till the referee’s closing directions earlier than the primary bell, the Englishman had towered over Alvarez. Fielding did look gigantic. But it made no distinction. Canelo tore by means of the hole between them, absorbing the area, all of the oxygen of the ring and snatched the wind from Rocky’s physique. A thumping left hook slammed into Fielding’s facet and compelled the Liverpudlian to take a knee within the first spherical.
It was a disastrous begin. Fielding wanted to start with confidence, he wanted to impose himself on Alvarez, let his dimension serve a warning and attempt to inflict at the least of sliver of doubt within the Mexican’s thoughts, that he was an unwelcome visitor within the super-middleweight division. Instead it was Canelo who dictated all of the phrases from the very starting.
On a knee early on, at this level Fielding may have unravelled. But he didn’t bounce straight again to his ft. He caught his breath, he watched referee Ricky Gonzalez’s depend and rose to see out the rest of the primary spherical. As he settled down on his stool within the first break of the competition his coach Jamie Moore ordered him to breathe.
Fielding couldn’t afford to lose his composure. He wanted to time, time to acclimatise to the rarefied air of elite competitors. But Alvarez wasn’t about to provide him that. He burned by means of his defences within the second spherical too.
Canelo let a proper hook free into Rocky’s physique. Fielding was combating simply to ward Alvarez off. The Briton threw his pictures rapidly. They cuffed into the Mexican with out the form or type of the punches Canelo unleashed. Again a nasty left hook streaked spherical the skin of Rocky’s elbow, knocking in opposition to his ribs. In reply the Briton curved a left hook into Alvarez’s head. But up shut, Canelo’s proper uppercut was a shot of close to magnificence. It jolted Rocky’s head again with savage authority.
Fielding wanted to drive him again, get him off the within, the place Canelo’s work was so brutally environment friendly. But snug within the pocket, Alvarez had locked on to the goal. Yet once more his left hook to the physique set the Briton down on a knee.
Rocky was courageous. He stood up. He fought on into the third spherical. He started the session with a mixture, his proper uppercut-left hook tagging Saul. The Mexican tapped his jab excessive, touching Rocky’s guard, triggering one other Canelo proper hook to crash into the physique. Battling in opposition to the stress, Fielding let his palms go, throwing a straight one-two. He cranked out his jab, stretching his left arm ahead, earlier than stepping in, reaching out in an effort to carry Canelo in a clinch.
Fielding hooked in his proper, then the left. He continued chucking punches at his tormentor. But Canelo snuffed out the rally. As Rocky backed in direction of the ropes, Alvarez’s proper hook swept by means of excessive. It clipped Rocky’s head, the sheer weight of the punch driving Fielding off his ft, again all the way down to the canvas.
Fielding was confounded. His mouth hung open, as if he may cry out in frustration. He was searching for solutions. But none have been forthcoming.
There is a fact to boxing, that the nice massive man will beat the nice little man. Fielding was massive however not ok, at the least not for this opponent. There is one other lesson too, one that’s typically repeated however solely realized within the doing. That there are ranges to this sport. Canelo, even with a deficit in peak and attain, was too good for him.
Reality struck. There aren’t any Christmas miracles and Rocky triumphs are for the flicks. Alvarez ended the lesson the identical punch he began it with. His left flicked out an uppercut solely to arrange a hook to the physique off the identical fist. It thundered in and Fielding was down once more, for the fourth time in three rounds. That was sufficient. Referee Gonzalez ended it at 2-38.
Unrequired judges have been Eric Marlinski, John McKaie and Kevin Morgan.
“I knew where I was, I knew everything,” Rocky stated ruefully. “I tried to fight back but I got caught. I dared to be great. I lived the dream. I’ll come again. I’ll come back.”
“That next level power, he’s got it. The timing, the speed. He puts his shots together well. I think he can mix it with any super-middleweight,” Fielding continued. “I stood there too long. I thought I could try and mix it with him. I shouldn’t have. You’ve seen the height of me compared to him. I should have kept it long. I stood there with someone who’s elite and who’s strong. I gave it everything.”
Canelo was ruthless, as nice fighters need to be. “He committed the error by beginning to exchange with me,” the Mexican stated with a touch of that chilly ferocity. “That’s what we worked on, to work hard to the body and thank God everything went well.”
Alvarez has come by means of his shut controversial fights with Gennady Golovkin to reign because the king of this sport. His yr started with him going through a short suspension as soon as traces of clenbuterol from tainted beef have been detected in his system. It’s ended together with his first combat in New York promoting out Madison Square Garden, to kick off an unlimited broadcast take care of DAZN that’s making him essentially the most extremely paid lively boxer on the planet in the present day. Winning Rocky’s WBA secondary super-middleweight title means Alvarez will even take into account himself a three-weight world champion.
“I’m just happy to be marking history,” Canelo stated with a smile.
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