The Canelo-Chavez pay-per-view undercard has some heavy hitters on it, so find out if they provided any pre-main event fireworks.
It’s always tricky to know what to do with a boxing pay-per-view undercard. As a promoter, do you spend more money to showcase potential upcoming PPV stars, or simply go cheaper with lesser known fighters? The Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. event is taking somewhat of a middle ground, loading up with name fighters who might provide some knockouts for the undercard results if nothing else.
Middleweight David Lemieux and welterweight Lucas Matthysse have had their share of stoppage wins and are in against live opponents as well. Even the lead-off fight between Joseph Diaz and Manuel “Tino” Avila carries its share of intrigue.
We’ll be bringing you live undercard results from the Canelo-Chavez PPV at the T-Mobile Arena as they happen, so refresh often for the latest.
David Lemieux UD10 Marco Reyes
If anyone could out-do Matthysse in terms of power punching on this card, it’s probably Lemieux. He came out fast, which is his M.O., and the announcers noted that Reyes’ plan was to survive the first four rounds, believing that Lemieux gasses in the second half of his fights.
Reyes began bleeding badly in Round 2, and more left hooks didn’t help, though he was scoring with more shots of his own as well. If nothing else, Reyes impressed with his chin. He did more than that in Round 4, appearing to stun Lemieux with some right hands.
Just as Reyes appeared to be getting back into the fight, Lemieux landed some damaging body shots in Round 7 that opened his foe’s head back up to be hit. Reyes kept battling, and despite Harold Lederman saying he thought perhaps the fight should be stopped, nothing in Reyes’ behavior or activity level suggested that.
Reyes got his head snapped back by some nasty shots in Round 10 but brought on a roar from the crowd with several rushes, swinging away with both hands. He made it to the end of the fight, which didn’t seem possible considering some of the leather he ate and the fact that he was bleeding like mad for eight-plus rounds.
The judges all saw it for Lemieux, 99-90 twice and 98-91.
Lucas Matthysse KO5 Emmanuel Taylor
Always fun to hear the minor belts on the line in fights like this. Taylor came into the fight with a 20-4 record and 14 KOs, while Matthysse entered at 37-4 with 34 knockouts. Would the hard-hitting Argentinian add another and shake off the stoppage loss he suffered in his last bout — especially when moving up to 147 pounds?
It certainly looked like it early, as he landed a right hand near the end of Round 1 that clearly hurt Taylor. The referee angrily called for time in Round 3 and allowed a doctor to check out Matthysse following a headbutt. Taylor seemed to want to stand in the pocket after that, and he paid for it when a two-punch combo sent him to the canvas. He got up quickly but spent most of the remainder of the frame backed into the ropes.
In Round 5, Taylor crumpled under a sustained body and head assault along the ropes, and though he barely beat the count, the ref saw he was still woozy and called it off. A body shot was the first punch that hurt Taylor, but a pair of left hands finished him off. Guess Matthysse can still hit hard at 147.
Joseph Diaz Jr. UD10 Manuel Avila
An interesting match-up between two young undefeated featherweights, though Diaz is considered to be the rising star and Avila has both a smaller KO percentage and is working with a new trainer. Avila went to the mat at the very end= of Round 2, but referee Tony Weeks immediately ruled it a slip.
Round 4 saw Avila land his best punches of the fight, including a left that seemed to stun the former U.S. Olympian for just a second, though Diaz came right back and came forward in the last minute of the round. Diaz picked up his out put in Round 5, and Avila also had to deal with a cut above his left eye.
In Round 7, Diaz was able to keep Avila retreating nearly the entire time, cornering him and landing several clean right hooks to make Avila’s cut re-open. Body shots appeared to slow Avila as well, but he fired a nasty right hand in Round 8 that slowed Diaz’s assault — but only briefly, before combination punches started raining down.
There was no drama of note down the stretch, and Diaz smiled when the final bell rang. And he was right to be confident, as the scorecards came back 100-90 and 99-91 twice, all in his favor.