NEW YORK — Canelo Alvarez threw a Garden party Saturday night. A short and powerful fiesta.
Alvarez landed dozens of body punches, knocking down Rocky Fielding four times and stopping him in the third round to earn his third weight class title, taking the WBA super middleweight belt.
Coming off his close decision against Gennady Golovkin three months ago to take the WBA and WBC middleweight titles, Alvarez could hear chants of “Canelo! Canelo!” long before he entered the Madison Square Garden ring for the first time. Throughout a lengthy undercard, it was clear who the sellout crowd of 20,112 came to see and cheer.
He delivered with power and precision, landing 73 punches, 35 to the body.
“That was the plan in the gym, to hit the body and then move up, and that’s the result,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “You see the result here.”