By Rick Reeno

MGM Grand, Las Vegas - WBC junior middleweight king Saul Alvarez (40-0-1, 29KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over former three division champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39KOs). The scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 119-109.

Mosley started the fight by coming forward and trying to jab his way inside. Alvarez started very slow and most of his punches were either blocked or found air. Mosley outworked him early. Alvarez started opening up more in the second and his punches were landing and doing more damage.

A clash of heads in the third opened up a cut above Alvarez's left eye. Alvarez was pressing the action in the fourth and Mosley was forced to stand his ground in the fifth as they traded hard punches at close range. Mosley was giving as good as he was getting.

Alvarez had a big sixth round, with some telling combinations that pushed Mosley back. Alvarez continued to get the better of Mosley in the seventh, but the veteran was still in the fight and working hard. In the eight, Mosley started taking a lot of flush punches and his counters were missing the necessary pop to hurt the champion.

In the ninth, Mosley was hurt by a hook to the body and Alvarez started to work him over with both hands. Alvarez stayed patient and picked his shots well to close the round.

After a looking flustered for most of the tenth, Mosley landed a few good punches on Alvarez in the first two minutes of the eleventh. Alvarez was tiring but still holding his own. Mosley didn't have the power left in his punches to take advantage of Alvarez's decreasing stamina.

Alvarez went back to work in the twelfth. Mosley tried, but his shots were either blocked or Alvarez got to the target first. Alvarez continued to outhustle him until the final bell.