The three titles returned to one man after Gennady Golovkin had held all three of those titles until the period in between the two Alvarez-Golovkin fights when the IBF stripped Golovkin for fighting Vanes Martirosyan after Alvarez's failed PED test postponed their rematch.
This one was an OK fight that wasn't up to the Canelo-GGG fights but wasn't a stinker either with Canelo winning 116-112 and 115-113 on two cards.
I had it 116-112, but I didn't think anyone could see it closer than that in a matchup that saw Canelo outwork Jacobs and land the bigger blows.
Neither fighter scored a knockdown or even came close to doing so and with the exception of a few times in the later rounds, didn't have a lot of exchanges.
Canelo Alvarez is basically an underrated boxer and an overrated puncher as he continued a string of fights against his best opponents without scoring a knockdown and in fact other than one knockdown against Austin Trout, Alvarez has only that knockdown to avoid a zero in that category,
Alvarez does take out fighters that are a notch below that, which helps keep a puncher's reputation intact, but his boxing skills are way underrated as he's looked very sharp in avoiding punches and controlling the pace in this one.
Jacobs rarely threw a lot of punches until the final third of the fight and Jacobs did have a few moments down the stretch, but those moments were too few and never strong enough to turn the tide in a fight that to me felt more lopsided than I scored it, not closer.
The undercard was as awful as predicted and other than an upset loss by Sadam Ali to Anthony Young, there was little of note with only one bout for the boxing challenge.
Hot junior welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz blasted out long time spoiler Mauricio Herrera with a highlight film knockout in the third round.
Ortiz knocked Herrera down late in the second and only the end of the round saved Herrera from being stopped right there.
The loss was the first time that Herrera has been knocked out and this might be the beginning of the end for the veteran, who looked a little shot in his previous fight which was a decision loss to Sadam Ali.
Ortiz looked spectacular in doing what had never previously been done and even though the win was over a shopworn Herrera, still it's quite an achievement for the flashy prospect.
ESPN televised Top Rank's card from Stockton, California, not because of counter-programming the DAZN card, but because of Artur Beterbiev wanting to get a fight in before his observation of Ramadan, this was the only date available for the IBF champion's title defense.
The main event was a fun one as Beterbiev walked down and stopped Radislav Kalajdzic in five rounds that saw both fighters land plenty of power punches in toe to toe exchanges.
Kalajdzic tried to use his superior reach to keep Beterbiev at bay and landed his share of big punches, but Beterbiev shrugged them off and just kept coming as Kalajdzic simply couldn't keep Beterbiev off of him.
Beterbiev knocked down Kalajdzic in the third when Kalajdzic was knocked into the ropes for a technical knockdown, but Kalajdzic battled back in a fourth-round spent exchanging bombs with the champion before the end came in the fifth.
Beterbiev will make a great fight against anyone and his amateur win over WBO champion Sergey Kovalev has made an eventual match between the two a fight that fans have wanted for years, but Beterbiev could also just as easily be placed against WBC titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk or former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez in anticipated bouts.
The co-feature showcased IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas defeating mandatory challenger Ryuichi Funai when the doctor stopped the bout with a battered Funai unable to continue following the doctor's evaluation for the beginning of the seventh round.
Ancajas controlled the action against the brave Funai, who constantly moved forward, but took about every punch from the champion's toolbox that one could take.
The stoppage was the correct one as Funai didn't possess the power to turn the fight around, but didn't seem to have any plans on giving up, which is the recipe for a fighter to take a ridiculous beating and in turn taking the chance of getting a warrior hurt.
Ancajas seems to be in the same boat with Top Rank as Terence Crawford, although not to Crawford's level, of course, a top fighter in a division that has the other top fighters with another promotion.
In the boxing challenge, I added eight points to Ramon Malpica's five to lengthen my lead to 116-100.
My points came from Artur Beterbiev Three (including KO round bonus)
Canelo Alvarez and Jerwin Ancajas Two points each
Vergil Ortiz one
Ramon's points came from Beterbiev two points
Alvarez, Ancajas and Ortiz one point each
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