On Saturday night in front of his hometown crowd in Guadalajara, Mexico, up and coming Jr. Middleweight superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez dominated EBU European champion Ryan Rhodes to defend his WBC Light middleweight title.
HBO`s championship boxing was the stage and Alvarez (37-0-1 27 KO`s) looked extremely confident and comfortable for a kid who is still one month shy of his 21st birthday. The story unfolded from the opening round when Canelo stayed calm in the pocket and picked his spots to explode with devastating combinations, bone crushing body shots that slowed down the British challenger and eventually put him away in round 12 when referee Hector Afu stepped in as Rhodes` corner was throwing in the towel. Rhodes (45-5 31 KO`s) who was on a 10 fight winning streak, his last 4 by KO, was no match for the Red Headed Mexican.
In rounds 1-3, Canelo out boxed Rhodes and used his jab and aggressive combinations to take the 1st 3 frames. Alvarez dropped Rhodes in the 4th with a straight right hand. Rhodes didn`t seem hurt, only off balance. Rhodes continued to shoot himself in the foot throughout the bout by constantly switching between orthodox and southpaw stances and got pummeled every time he did so even after his own corner told him to stick with an orthodox stance.
In rounds 5-8 Canelo pounded every part of Rhodes` body and to make matters worse he opened up a cut under Rhodes` right eye. Between rounds Rhodes` corner was telling him not to worry about the scorecards because they felt they wouldn`t win by decision anyway. Alvarez took a breather in round 9 but came out in round 10 and hammered Rhodes all round long. Just before the final round Rhodes` corner told him to go for broke but it was the young champ from Mexico that came out to close the show with a flurry that backed up Rhodes, forcing him to cover up. Canelo moved in for the kill firing away until the referee finally halted the bout just a split second before Rhodes` corner threw in the towel. Even if Rhodes made it to the finish line, it would have been a whitewash regardless.
I must admit, this was the best version of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez that I`ve seen of him thus far. He was extremely comfortable in the ring and had total control of the fight from start to finish, but once again it was against who? Ryan Rhodes has 45 victories and I`ve never heard of him before this evening. Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez have the same amount of professional fights (38). They are in the same division. Cotto has fought everyone and anyone he can get his hands on. When is Golden Boy going to put Alvarez in a fight with a guy with a household name? I think he may have the goods to beat most of the guys in the Jr. Middleweight division, but what good is having the skills but you never get the opportunity to showcase those skills. Its time to see exactly how sweet the Cinnamon really is!
Earlier in HBO`s telecast, Crowd pleaser Jason Litzau, fresh off his upset victory over Celestino Caballero was stopped by undefeated Adrien Broner via 1st round TKO. In what was a mostly dull opening round, Broner (21-0 17 KO`s) caught Litzau (28-3 21 KO`s) against the ropes with a right cross on the jaw, a right uppercut and several left hooks that sent Litzau to the canvas causing referee Curtis Thrasher to call the bout to a halt. Broner looks like he has all the tools, lets see if his head is in the right place to have continued success in the ring.
Joey Santana can be reached at theboxingkidd@verizon.net
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