LAS VEGAS _ Canelo Alvarez sought to out-box a boxer. He did that, and in the end, he also conquered a significant size disadvantage.
Alvarez added a third middleweight belt to his collection Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena by defeating Daniel Jacobs by scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 116-112.
In taking Jacobs' International Boxing Federation belt, Alvarez (52-1-2) was especially sharp in piling up early rounds. Jacobs, perhaps 20 pounds bigger, answered in the later rounds, but Alvarez didn't wilt and leaned on his strong uppercuts and power to close the show.
"It was just what we thought. We knew he was going to be a difficult fighter but thank God, we did things the right way, what we were going to do," Alvarez said. "It was just what we thought because of the style of fight that he brings, but we just did our job."
Asked if he hopes to fight Gennady Golovkin a third time, Alvarez was ambivalent.
"No, for me, it's over," he said. "But if the people want another fight, we'll do it again, and I'll beat him again.
"That's why I'm here. That's what I was born for. To fight. To defend what's mine. I'll fight anyone."
Jacobs had been slapped with a $1-million penalty Saturday morning after weighing 173.6 pounds, exceeding his fight-day weight limit of 170. Alvarez, with a purse of around $35 million, picked up the extra cash at the expense of Jacobs, who had been in line to make about $12 million.
"I didn't feel any different. I'm just a naturally big middleweight. I made the sacrifice of coming in 173 and paying a hefty fine for it, but end of the day, I made sacrifices," Jacobs said. "I got the short end of the stick, but to my fans, to all my survivors out there who appreciate me and my story for what I represent, I thank you. The journey is not over."
The fight started slowly with Jacobs (35-3) jabbing and Alvarez aiming at the body. Alvarez accelerated his work in the second round, backing Jacobs with a right hand to the head, brushing off jabs and closing with a scoring jab and uppercut that pained Jacobs.
Alvarez kept the pressure on and then displayed all the improvements he's been honing in recent years in the fourth, slipping Jacobs' punches with elite head movement while working the body and meeting Jacobs' punch in a clutch with his own.
Jacobs kept searching for answers, and instead absorbed damage to the body and scoring jabs, failing to find the evasive Alvarez.
In the sixth, Jacobs relished a sliver of success by turning to a left-handed stance, landing a clean combination. His success continued into the seventh as he landed a hard power punch to the head and delivered a combination with Alvarez backed to the ropes.
The action heightened in the eighth when Alvarez escaped from Jacobs' pressure on the ropes, and Jacobs urged him to fight, receiving an unwanted response of four straight Alvarez punches to the head.
Jacobs surged back in the ninth by clocking Alvarez with consecutive left hands to the head, and after Alvarez took a breather, Jacobs maintained the activity into the 10th.
But Alvarez shifted into a defiant mode, and belted Jacobs with the defining late flurries and blows to satisfy his vocal fan base that gathered for, and celebrated, Cinco de Mayo.
On the undercard, Vergil Ortiz's power display was matched against a 38-year-old veteran who'd never been knocked out. Even that couldn't stop the 21-year-old prospect from Dallas.
Ortiz (13-0, 13 knockouts) bashed Riverside's Mauricio Herrera with a wicked right hand that left former welterweight title challenger knocked out while crouched on his feet.
Herrera trainer Henry Ramirez told his fighter, "I think you should retire," and Herrera responded, "I think so."
Ortiz said he noticed Herrera (24-9) was dropping his left hand.
He exploited the opening immediately, closing the second round with a nasty barrage punctuated by a hard right to the jaw that sent Herrera down at the bell.
The damage continued through the first seconds of the third, and just 29 seconds in, Herrera was out.
"I'm very satisfied with my performance. Everyone doesn't think I have experience (with limited fights), but I work in the gym every day and I spar with world champions every day," Ortiz said in reference to his work at Robert Garcia's Riverside gym that counts four-division champion Mikey Garcia in its stable.
Despite taking a welterweight bout Saturday, Ortiz said he wants to immediately return to 140 pounds and pursue a title shot, saying earlier this week he's eyeing World Boxing Organization champion Maurice Hooker, who also resides in Dallas.
Earlier, South El Monte super-featherweight Joseph Diaz Jr. flashed impressive hand speed and body punching to produce a seventh-round technical knockout victory over Freddy Fonseca.
Diaz (29-1), after losing a featherweight title shot against Gary Russell Jr. one year ago this month, won his third straight bout at 130 pounds by outlanding Fonseca 142-31 in power punches.
