Canelo Steals The Show in Los Angeles
By John Novoselac at ringside (Sept 20, 2010) Doghouse Boxing (Photos © German Villasenor, Doghouse Boxing)  
Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora may have headlined this event, but Mexican sensation Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, 33-0-1 (25), was the star of the night. Mosley and Mora engaged in a lackluster draw, while the undercard provided exciting knockouts for the crowd of 15,000 gathered at the Staples Center on a cool Los Angeles evening.

Golden Boy Promotions put together an entertaining weekend for fight fans, but anyone that was expecting an enthralling main event was fooling themselves. Over 12 tightly contested yet rather uneventful rounds, junior middleweights Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora finished the fight without any sort of definitive ending. Shane sported the Mexican colors in honor the Independence Day weekend, and pressed the action in more of a Mexican fashion than his East LA native opponent Sergio Mora.

The fight was relatively similar over all 12 rounds. Sugar Shane pressed behind his flicking jab, and Mora looked to make him miss and counter. Mora displayed some impressive defensive skills, but had Shane not pressed the fight, there might not have been one at all. The rounds went on and were tough to score as not many clean shots were landing. Mora tried to use his size advantage as the fight was mostly on the inside, involving quite a bit of clenching, but Sugar Shane showed his strength as well, stunning Mora late in the fight with his trademark overhand right. Scores were 115-113 Mora, 116-112 Mosley, and 114-114, making the fight a draw.

Opening the night was a featherweight battle that was expected to be the best of the night. Mexico's Daniel Ponce de Leon looked to re-establish relevance against contender Antonio Escalante. Feints and wide winging shots were prevalent the fist 2 rounds, but the action escalated in the third as a back and forth exchange spelled the end. A counter right off of a left hand from Ponce de Leon sent Escalante down, and there was no need for count. Official time was 2:40 of the 3rd.

The battle for the Vicious moniker ended in equally abbreviated fashion. Fighting at welterweight, junior welter contender Vicious Victor Ortiz stopped former titlist Vicious Vivian Harris in 3 rounds. Harris was dropped three times in the second from hard left hands of Ortiz. Harris held on to finish the 2nd, but a right hook followed by an uppercut ended the bout at 45 seconds of the third.

The most exciting and crowd engaging fight preceded the main event, and was a junior middleweight battle between young Mexican rising star Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and former welterweight champion Carlos 'Tata' Baldomir. Canelo was the more active fighter through the first 2 rounds, but Tata soon found his timing and began landing some sneaky right hands that hurt Canelo. The pressure of Baldomir seemed to be troubling the young Alvarez, but the tide turned quickly towards the end of the 6th. As Canelo found his uppercut landing, he pressed. A counter left in an exchange caught Tata and he was floored face first. The official time was 2:53 of the 6th round.

Questions or comments,
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John at: jnovoselac@yahoo.com

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