By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs wasn’t exactly an exhilarating action fight.

Their middleweight title unification fight produced some memorable moments, but Alvarez and Jacobs boxed in ways that showed varying levels of respect for an opponent’s power and skill. At least, though, there didn’t appear to be any controversy once Michael Buffer announced Alvarez as the winner of their 12-round bout by unanimous decision.

Alvarez’s previous two fights in Las Vegas – a widely disputed draw with Gennadiy Golovkin and a majority-decision defeat of his rival in their rematch – each caused considerable controversy. The consensus Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena was that Alvarez definitely deserved this victory he was awarded.

Judges Glenn Feldman (116-112), Dave Moretti (115-113) and Steve Weisfeld (115-113) each scored their competitive encounter for the Mexican superstar. Even Eddie Hearn, Jacobs’ promoter, acknowledged that Mexico’s Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) beat Brooklyn’s Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) in their DAZN main event.

“No, 115-113 is fair,” Hearn said during the post-fight press conference. “If I scored it 115-113, then you could have it 116-112, you can have it a draw. But the right man won the fight. I think that’s the general consensus.”

CompuBox credited the 5-feet-8 Alvarez for landing more power punches and jabs than the 6-feet Jacobs. According to CompuBox’s unofficial statistics, Alvarez hit Jacobs with 188-of-466 overall punches, 57 more than Jacobs landed (131-of-649).

Alvarez connected on 120-of-264 power punches, 31 more than Jacobs (89-of-359). CompuBox scored 68-of-202 jabs for Alvarez, 26 more than Jacobs (42-of-290).

“I thought Danny had a relatively poor first half of the fight,” Hearn said. “And I thought he won the back end of the fight. I scored it 115-113 [for Alvarez]. And I think he’ll kick himself a little bit. It’s easy to say. You know, if he would’ve tried to be a little bit more aggressive in the fight – he took some big shots, you know? And so did Canelo. I think they both showed a great chin.” 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.