by Bob Canobbio

It was a power punch festival Saturday night at the MGM in Las Vegas.  ShoStats reveal that sluggers Canelo Alvarez, Marcos Maidana and Leo Santa Cruz combined to land 59% of their power punches- 27% higher than the overall CompuBox average.

Alvarez landed 64% of his power shots in his fifth round KO win over Josesito Lopez.  That’s 27% higher than the 154-lb weight class avg.  Alvarez landed 70% in round one and 72% in round five.  Lopez landed 52% of his power shots (15 of 29) in round two.

In a  Fight of the Year candidate,  Maidana landed half his power shots over eight rounds enroute to an eighth round ko win over Jesus Soto Karass, who had his moments, landing 55 of 125 power shots (44%) in rounds six and seven.  Maidana closed the show by landing 28 of 43 power shots (65%) over the last two rounds.  Soto Karass averaged 94 punches thrown per round- 36 more than the welterweight avg.

Rising star and bantamweight champ Leo Santa Cruz landed a staggering 66% of his power shots vs. former champ Eric Morel, who did not answer the bell for round six.  Santa Cruz landed an avg. of  55 punches per round- 36 more than the weight class avg.  50 of those landed punches per round were power shots- 36 more per round than the weight class avg. 

Santa Cruz landed 113 of 168 power punches in rounds four and five.  Morel came to fight, averaging 76 punches thrown per round over the first four rounds, 20 more thrown per round than in his previous three fights.