Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs Alfonso Gomez

Photos by Gene Blevins/Hoganphotos

By Randy De La O

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Alfonso Gomez will be fighting on the undercard (sort of) tonight. Alvarez vs Gomez will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Their fight is the main event at that sight but on the HBO PPV their fight will be on the undercard, so to speak. I think it will be a good fight.

I happen to like both of these guys, though I do think at this point in his career, regardless of his age, "Canelo" is a bit overrated and over protected, but that's not his fault (yet). He still needs a lot of work, especially on defense but that should come with time.

Gomez is a guy you just can't help but like. I mean, how can you not root for Gomez? Now here is a guy that, more than anyone else, has made the most of his appearance on NBC's boxing reality show, "The Contender", a few years back, and here is a guy that could have griped to Kingdom Come when, after beating Peter Manfredo Jr on the fair and square, he was forced to fight him a second time after another contestant left the show and Manfredo was called back. Manfredo won the second fight. If they ended their fights with one and one, why was Manfredo allowed to fight Sergio Mora for the Contender title? The fair and honest thing to do would have been to make it two out of three. Gomez got screwed. I'm not saying Gomez would have beaten Mora but I do think he's the one that should have been given the chance. I'm digressing, I know, but I had to get that off my chest.

Gomez to be fair, is a limited fighter and most likely would have languished in obscurity if not for the "Contender", but it's his huge heart that has made me and just about everyone else a fan. He's my kind of fighter. He's always plugging away, always trying, always giving a 100%. I'm hoping that somewhere along the line, maybe tonight, he'll have a "Rocky" like moment in his career. He's fought and beat a few good guys, like the late Arturo Gotti, though to be fair to Gotti, he was at the end of a great career. He never fought again. He's stepped into the ring with Miguel Cotto, Jesus Soto Karass and Jose Luis Castillo. Castillo, like Gotti, was caught at the end of his career. Gomez is a deserving guy.

That's not to say that Canelo isn't a deserving guy. Like Gomez, I think he has his limitations but with the backing this guy has, he might as well have won a gold medal. His career is moving along like a juggernaut against mediocre opponents and he is not quite 100% deserving of his place in the upper echelon of boxing, someday maybe, just not yet. Still, his future looks bright.

Tonight, I'm throwing common sense, logic and conventional wisdom out the window and I'm going with my heart. It seems like the right thing to do! I'll be rooting for Gomez.

Saul Alvarez vs. Alfonso Gomez

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs Matthew "Magic" Hatton

Photo Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

By Randy De La O

Saturday’s fight, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Matthew “Magic” Hatton, for the WBC Junior Middleweight title was not a great fight, it was however, a great showcase for Canelo’s talent. Canelo pitched a near perfect shutout over Hatton. I say near perfect because a point was taken away from Canelo in the 7th round for hitting after the break.

It was obvious from the start that Hatton was in over his head. He had neither the fire power nor the skill level to seriously challenge or hurt Alvarez. What he did have was grit and plenty of it. Each round was almost a carbon copy of the one that preceded it, with Canelo having his way, and with Hatton looking like he was ready to cave in and then coming back again and again with punches of his own, absolutely refusing to lay down. Still, the gutsy Brit took a lot of punishment.

Matthew Hatton was looking to step out of the shadows of his older brother, former champ Ricky Hatton, and I think to some degree he succeeded. Hatton’s style can be somewhat ugly, with all the holding, hitting behind the head, hitting after the break and hamming it up on the floor on two occasions. However, he is a survivor and he does possess a fighter‘s heart. Despite what even he must have sensed during the fight he never stopped trying to win. . Can’t fault a man for that type of thinking.

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and I do agree with Max Kellerman, Bob Papa and Roy Jones Jr, that Alvarez is something special, but I do disagree that he is the complete package. Someday maybe but just not yet. That’s no knock on Alvarez either, he is after all only 20 years of age. He may one day be an all time great but at this point the kid still has a few things to learn.

In the later rounds, he became frustrated by his inability to put Hatton away and it showed. Another fighter, a better one than Hatton, might have capitalized on it. It’s one thing to take a good punch but it’s another thing altogether to take a punch foolishly. Without any defense Alvarez will never be a “Complete Package”. The history of boxing is replete with fighters with big punches, no defense and short careers. The really great fighters, the ones that hang around a while, regardless of style or punching power know enough to move their head just a little.

Canelo strikes me as a smart kid and I think he’s the type of guy that will learn from his mistakes. There was nothing I saw that couldn’t be tweaked and adjusted. Maybe I’m just nitpicking, I don’t know. Still, I know what I saw. In the post fight interview I thought both men handled themselves with grace and dignity. In Hatton’s case he was an extremely good sport about losing and made no excuses. That’s the way it should be.

Alvarez won the fight via a unanimous decision. All three judges had it 119-108 for Alvarez.

One final note. I thought Lou Moret, normally a fine referee, was asleep at the wheel during the entire fight. He seemed lost and a step or two behind the action and he almost gave the impression of not wanting to get too involved. In the long run it really doesn’t matter because the fight was so one sided. I thought Hatton got away with too much holding and hitting behind the head, and I thought the wrong guy got the point taken away form him in the 7th.

Related articles

• Alvarez wins first world title by dominating Hatton (tsn.ca)
• Boxer Alvarez dominates Hatton to stay unbeaten (cbc.ca)

Sugar Shane Mosley vs Sergio Mora: It's a (Boring) Draw

Photos courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

By Randy De La O

Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Antonio Escalante

It was a tough loss for El Paso’s Antonio Escalante Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Escalante was stopped in the third round of their scheduled twelve round WBO Title elimination bout. I thought Escalante was holding his own against De Leon before he was stopped.  Going into the fight, trainer Louie Burke had some concern over Escalante having some trouble making weight. That may have been a factor in the fight.  Escalante showed some promise in this fight and one loss, KO or otherwise is not the end of a career. The best remedy for a loss is a little rest and then back to the gym.

De Leon still has some fight in him and is now the mandatory challenger to world featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez.

Victor Ortiz vs. Vivian Harris

I have to admit, I didn’t think too much of Victor Ortiz before this fight, and I’m not exactly a fan just yet  but I have to give him some credit  in his effort to redeem himself after quitting against Marcos Maidana. Everyone deserves a second chance. Ortiz handled himself well against the veteran Harris, though to be fair, Harris has seen better days and I don’t think he gave Ortiz the kind of fight that would have answered some questions about Ortiz. In other words this was the perfect fight for Ortiz to shine. To his credit Ortiz took a few good right hands from Harris in the fight and shook them off as he continued to press the fight. Harris was Ko’ed in the third round. The jury is still out.

Saul Alvarez Ko's Carlos Baldomir

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Carlos Baldomir

I couldn’t help mentioning to my pal Ed Hernandez Saturday night, as we watched Alvarez make his ring walk and ring entrance, that we  were looking at a very special fighter, someone poised for greatness. His fight with Carlos Baldomir seemed to put a stamp on it. Alvarez is a well trained fighter and shows skills far beyond his twenty years. There is an old school aura that seems to permeate the air around him.

Former fighter and current boxing historian and writer, Rick Farris,  had this to say about Alvarez: “I know this kid is getting a lot of publicity and I think it's a good thing. I've only seen him in his match with Cotto's brother but I was impressed. The great thing about Alvarez is that he is not a product of amateur boxing. There was a time when the amateurs was a great start to a pro career. As they tried to make amateur boxing "safe", they came up with rules that has taken the fight out of boxing. Basically, today's amateur boxing is ruining the sport. I can understand why the younger generation is gravitating to MMA. People want to see something that suggests a fight, not a game of tag. Alvarez is a solid body puncher, and can come back after being rocked to KO his opponent. He comes to fight. ‘ I couldn’t agree more.


Baldomir seemed angry as he entered the ring, scowling and pushing aside one of his handlers arm. He should have saved some of that anger for Alvarez. Baldomir seemed to break down round by round and had no real answers for Alvarez, who was consistently landing right hands against Baldomir.  It was a right hand by Alvarez and a quickly followed up left hook that finished Baldomir in the sixth round. Saul Alvarez was the main event of the evening.

Sugar Shane Mosley, Sergio Mora and Referee Pat Russell

Sugar Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora

There were rumors of a fight between Mosley and Mora Saturday night. We were mislead. Instead of a fight we got an early audition for “Dancing with the Stars”.  I don’t know how else to put it.

Mosley, once an elite, top of the game fighter, is aging quickly now but even with that I thought he beat Mora, in what has to be 2010’s Snoozefest” of the year. Mora is lucky he was facing an aging warrior in Mosley. Mora never has been, and absolutely never will be, in Mosley’s league, not even the same ballpark. I couldn't help but yell for Mosley to knockout Mora and end the fight. It's hard not to root for a guy like Sugar Shane.

To his credit, Mosley at least tried to make a fight of it but his punches no longer have the sting they used to and the hands no longer have that quick fluid motion that scored so many victories. The legs are gone too. Still, he was more than enough for Mora, who did nothing to deserve a gifted draw.

By the way, did anyone else notice the head clash between Bernard Hopkins ans Sugar Shane Mosley just before the introductions? Wouldn't have been something? The fight stopped on cuts caused by an accidental head butt before the fight even started!