Clottey Beats Alvarez

Joshua Clottey on Thursday won a 12-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Shamone Alvarez at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Clottey (33-2, 20 KOs) was simply too strong and too aggressive for the classy southpaw boxer Alvarez (19-1, 11 KOs), and won by margins of 115-113, 116-112, 118-110.

Clottey started well in the first round with crisp counters and body shots, and Alvarez began to pick up the pace in rounds two and three, throwing a lot more punches, but not causing much damage. Alvarez's punches had very little steam on them and Clottey kept moving forward with an evident lack of respect for his power.

In round four, it was Clottey who began to pick up the pace with his own punch-rate, sensing that he may have given up a few of the early rounds. The fight saw the two of them battling at close range as Clottey gave much better than he took with the more telling blows. He stunned Alvarez in the final minute of round four with a four-punch combination.

Clottey kept the momentum in his direction for the remainder of the fight, doubling Alvarez's connection of power punches in the middle rounds. Alvarez was hurt to the body in the eight and once again stunned in the ninth. Clottey began to drop his hands in the tenth, daring Alvarez to come in and slug. There was no fear of what Alvarez was throwing. In the final round, Clottey coasted a bit, knowing that he was well ahead on the cards.

Clottey threw 572 and landed 181, while Alvarez threw a lot more at 867, but landed over 60 less with 118.

It is going to be interesting if Clottey holds his ranking for a bout with Cintron, or goes for WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in March. Clottey has been rumored for weeks as the frontrunner for landing a shot at Cotto in a March doubleheader with Antonio Margarito in the co-feature. Cotto is the much bigger fight, Cintron is probably the more winnable fight.