Saul Alvarez
Saul Alvarez

Saul Alvarez to face Golovkin after beating Chavez Jr


Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has revealed he will face middleweight king Gennady Golovkin in his next fight after claiming a unanimous decision victory over Julio Chavez Jr in Las Vegas.

The WBO world super-lightweight champion dominated from the opening bell on Saturday night and used Chavez (50-3-1, 32 KOs) for target practice, landing powerful jabs, hooks and combinations at will in what was a 12-round mismatch.

Golovkin watched from ringside at the T-Mobile Arena as Alvarez won every round on all three judges' scorecards as he improved to 49-1-1 in the non-title fight.

Following the bout, Alvarez said he will face the WBA 'super', WBC, IBF world middleweight champion on September 16.

"Golovkin, you are next, my friend. Where are you? It's on," Alvarez said before bringing Golovkin into the ring with him.

In response, Golovkin said: "Congratulations. I feel excited to be part of this big drama show."

Alvarez came into the bout against Chavez as the heavy favourite, despite moving up in weight to face his much heavier Mexican compatriot at a catchweight of 164lbs.

Chavez struggled to deal with Alvarez's superior speed and power throughout, and had no answer to a series of stinging combinations from the 26-year-old that left him bleeding from both nostrils and with his left eye almost swollen shut.

Alvarez landed 228 punches to just 71 for Chavez and an incredible 31 percent of his jabs connected as he had his way with the former WBC middleweight champion.