Canelo Alvarez was ahead on all three judges’s scorecards at the time of his fight with Billy Joe Saunders being stopped. The scores were a stark contrast to DAZN announcer Chris Mannix who had Saunders winning the bout.
Canelo Alvarez unified titles at super-middleweight when Billy Joe Saunders was unable to continue after the eighth round.
The fight was more competitive than many expected, and saw Saunders win a few rounds before getting stopped. Most observers felt that despite the competitive nature of the fight, Alvarez was clearly in control. This was confirmed when the official scorecards were released, all of which had Alvarez winning through three rounds.
Judge Tim Cheatham had the bout scored 77-75, while judges Glenn Feldman and Max Deluca had the bout scored 78-74.
Each judged had the same score for seven of the eight rounds, the only round the disagreed on was round seven, which Cheatham gave to Saunders.
All of these scores were realistic and indicative of how the fight was going, and most observers agreed with these scorecards, except for DAZN announcer Chris Mannix.
Mannix somehow had given Alvarez just two rounds going into the eight and final round, having an unofficial score of 68-65 through seven rounds.
Even Mannix must have given round eight to Alvarez , which would have moved his unofficial score to 77-75 in favor of Saunders, still an unfathomable score. Everyone has bad nights at the office, but it is unclear what fight Mannix was watching.
The fight was stopped in-between the eight and ninth rounds, when Saunders trainer deemed he was unfit to continue after his right eye had completely swelled shut from a Alvarez uppercut. Saunders has since been transported to a local hospital, and is being examined for a broken orbital bone, via Mike Coppinger.
With the win, Alvarez now holds three of the four major belts in the super-middleweight division, and has his eyes set on a fall showdown against IBF Champion Caleb Plant, with the goal of becoming the undisputed middleweight champion.