Andrade started well, outboxing Benavidez in the first two rounds before Benavidez began landing in the third round and dominated thereafter, knocking Andrade down in the fourth with a body shot, and battering a very game Andrade in the fifth and sixth.
With Andrade's right eye starting to swell badly, referee Thomas Taylor asked Andrade to show him something in the upcoming round or he would have to stop the fight, Andrade's corner did the right thing in protecting their fighter by ending the evening for Andrade.
A dominant win for Benavidez and the best of his career in my opinion and Andrade was brave in taking his first defeat, showing more in defeat against the bigger man than he may have in his previous wins.
Benavidez once again called out Canelo Alvarez, who hadn't seemed interested in fighting Benavidez in the past, and I'd be surprised if Alvarez answered that call in his next outing, even though Alvarez still has two more fights scheduled with PBC, the promoter for Benavidez.
Benavidez is bigger, younger, and stronger than Canelo, and a prospective fight between the two reminds me of another all-Mexican battle between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez, which also ended with the younger, stronger, and faster De La Hoya winning on cuts in four rounds in 1996 and winning the rematch in eight rounds.
Benavidez deserves the shot at Canelo next but if I had to guess who is going to get that chance, that man made his ring return after almost a two-and-a-half year absence in WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, who missed weight by multiple pounds even though he was fighting above his division limit.
Charlo looked better than I expected in winning an easy unanimous decision over the much smaller Jose Benavidez over ten rounds held at a catchweight in the super middleweight division.
Charlo didn't score a knockdown but under the circumstances that's about the only thing to be critical of his outing but remember this- Benavidez is a natural 140-pounder, entered the fight with a record of 1-2-1 over the last five years, and he was knocked out by Terence Crawford, so while Benavidez is a tough customer, this wasn't a quality contender Charlo was beating.
Charlo won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92 which was my score.
I haven't seen the other two title fights which saw Subriel Matias stop Shohjahon Ergashev in six to retain his IBF junior welterweight title, and Lamont Roach defeat Hector Luis Garcia by split decision to win the WBA junior lightweight belt.
I did see the YouTube free fight with Michel Rivera winning a close unanimous decision over Sergey Lipinets in a ten-round junior welterweight battle.
I scored Rivera the winner at 96-94.
Boxing Challenge
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