By Ernest Gabion
Los Angeles - While of no major significance to the junior middleweight division, the main event was contested at 154-pounds, and held some significance for the careers of Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora. For starters, Mosley had his unbeaten record at Staples Center on the line. The venue is the same location where Mosley achieved two of his greatest career wins, against Oscar De La Hoya and Antonio Margarito. For Mora, a chance to give his career a boost with a win over a highly respected former three division champion.
Initially the bout had the look of a walkout fight as both seemed unwilling to go the extra mile to press the action. The lull in action for the first stanza was hard for the audience, who saw knockouts in the previous three fights. The lack of excitement forced the boo birds to come out early. The smattering of boos were temporarily drowned out by the chants of "Canelo! Canelo! Canelo!" as Saul Alvarez made his way to ringside to watch the main event.
It took four rounds for us to see any sustained action as Mosley allowed the younger, fresher Mora to control the pace, and space, by landing clean shots and then moving out before Mosley could counter. On the inside, Mora seemed to have the upper hand giving Shane hard shots to the midsection while Mosley seemed content to hold.
The action gained some steam in the sixth round, with Mosley getting caught with a hard left while attempting to close the distance. A pattern developed in the seventh, with Mora controlling the pace from the outside with a stiff jab/right hand combo, while the inside attack of Mosley kept him in the fight. At times, Mosley appeared to be unable to land anything of worth unless Mora stood right in front of him.
Out of desperation, Mosley unsuccessfully tried to bait Mora into slugfest by keeping his hands low. He was hoping to land something big with a counter. They finally began to trade punches in the tenth round. Mora making contact with the cleaner punches, but Mosley was connecting with the more telling blows.
The increase in action appeared to tire Mora, as he stopped moving around and stayed on the ropes. Mosley saw the opening and quickly switched to a bulldozer mode in the eleventh. He was trying to bully his way through Mora's punches but along the way got clipped quite a bit. Big punches from both turned the eleventh into the best round of the night. Shane landed his best punch of the night, a winding right hand that caught Mora flush, but he allowed Mora to land more punches during the exchanges. The twelfth and final round gave the fans something to get behind as both of the fighters left what little they had in the ring
The judges were split on the outcome, with scores of 115-113 for Mora (Kermit Bayless), 116-112 for Mosley (David Denkin) and 114-114 for the draw (Lou Moret). The scorecards seemed to fit this fight as the media in press row was pretty split as to which fighter deserved the victory. Some of the rounds were harder to score than others, and they produced conflicting scorecards on press row, with some of the widest scores being 117-111 for Mora and 117-111 for Mosley.
With Mosley, he just couldn't pull the trigger. It's also quite evident that Mosley, at age 39, has issues being able to fight with boxers who stay on the move. There were far too many times when Shane's right hand stayed cocked but never unleashed. He seemed sloppy and while a lot of Saturday's shortcomings could be conrtibuted to the opponent in the other corner, Mosley usually has the ability overcome these obstacles with his sheer talent.
This scribe is convinced the paint job we saw Shane accomplish in January 2009, when he destroyed Antonio Margarito, had more to do with the opponent's style than a renaissance of Sugar. It took Mora tiring and being forced to stand his ground, for Mosley to stay in the fight. Thoughts of him fighting the elite names at welterweight seem distant after Saturday's performance. And with the junior middleweight division heating up, it's hard to figure out where exactly he would fit in the 154-pound mix.
Mora just can't seem to buy himself a break. The ring generalship seemingly belonged to him and he seemed to have kept an even pace with the more experienced Mosley. Fatigue and machismo got got the better of Mora in the end, and it kept him from securing the victory. So now, Mora leaves with more questions than answers. Does he stay in a division where he struggles to make weight for the opportunity to make a Mosley rematch? Does he try to go after some of the elite at 154? Can he execute this style successfully at 160 where his size advantage gets nullified by bigger stronger opponents?
The crowd of 13,591 seemed happy as they went into the Los Angeles to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence. They got quite a few entertaining knockouts for a relatively cheap price.
"Vicious" Victor Ortiz returns to the scene where his coming out party turned into a nightmare at the hands of Marcos Maidana. For Harris, the former WBA light welterweight champion, this is probably his final opportunity at a showcase appearance against an upper-tier fighter at 140-pounds.
It was apparent early on that Harris was trying to load up on his punches to end things early. But Ortiz was patient and played it smart. He showed respect for Harris' power. Both men seem to be waiting for the other to attack. In the second, a short left put Harris on his backside in what may have been a flash knockdown and not a shot that had Harris in any serious trouble. Ortiz' constant pursuit gained him two more knockdowns by way of a right hook and long straight left. Harris quickly fell apart and no longer had the legs to sustain this type of punishment.
Early in the third round, a sharp inside right hook/uppercut combo finally put a halt to the fight as Harris crumbled without any motion of getting back up. Raul Caiz Sr. overlooked the option of administering a count and stopped the fight to get a ringside doctor to check on Harris.
Ortiz now moves to 28-2-1 (22KOs) and hopefully big money fights with the elite in his division. For Harris, judging by the string of fights we have seen of late, it may be time to consider hanging up the gloves as his legs seemed to have finally betrayed him.
In just his second fight outside of the confines of Mexico, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez passed his toughest test in form of Carlos "Tata" Baldomir, the 39-year-old former welterweight champion.
The younger, seemingly more talented Alvarez pressed the action from the start. He landed nice combinations but they didn't deter Baldomir who held his own on occasion by landing clean rights to Canelo's chin. Baldomir's lack of power was clear. Canelo seems unfazed by Baldomir's punches. Canelo displayed a nice array of weapons and technique. He put on a clinic that belies his age.
The subtle things that Alvarez was doing clearly became evident as he took over the fight and began to have his way with Baldomir by the fourth. In that fourth round, Baldomir tried to apply pressure by creating a toe to toe slugfest. However, Canelo was clearly getting the better of the action.
During the sixth and final round, Canelo found his operating speed as he opened up on Baldomir with beautiful punches that put the seemingly iron-chinned veteran in a bit of trouble. The onslaught was far too much for the veteran to handle, as Canelo shot a powerful short left hook that sent Baldomir face first for the count of ten at 2:58.
This was a great stepping stone for the barely 20-year-old Alvarez, who raised his record to 34-0-1 (26KOs). He received a raucous ovation for his efforts. Judging by their reaction, the largely Mexican-American crowd at Staples Center seems firmly convinced that this is their next Mexican superstar. They may be correct in their adoration as Alvarez clearly is a talented young fighter with all of the markings of a long term champion.
While Baldomir 45-13-6 (14KOs) was certainly a game opponent, he was simply was outgunned from the outset and succumbed to a combination of talent and speed. Largely inactive since a 2007 loss to Vernon Forrest, he will need to keep himself active if he plans to continue fighting.
The first pay-per-view fight of the night was quite possibly the best match on paper, as both boxers are known for their action packed fights. The contest had an eliminator hanging overhead with the winner being awarded with the opportunity to face WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez.
From the outset you could see their respective strategies as Daniel Ponce De Leon put constant pressure from his southpaw stance on Antonio Escalante. For his effort, Escalante tried to control the outside by using utilizing a jab and constant movement. Escalante may have felt Ponce's power early, as he quickly seemed hesitant to engage, and instead tried to score points by leaping in with combos.
Ponce was relentless with his crude but effective style. He suffocated Escalante with pressure. A picture perfect right hook floored Escalante hard in the third, forcing the referee to forego his count and wave off the fight at 2:40.
For Ponce, now 40-2 (33KOs), the win propels him to a possible chance to exact revenge against Juan Manuel Lopez, who knocked him out in first round of their June 2008 encounter.
For Escalante, 24-3 (15KOs), it's a tough loss for a fighter who prides himself on being an all action boxer. One has to wonder whether his action-packed war with hometown rival Miguel "Mickey" Roman, which took place earlier this year, has taken a toll on the young fighter from El Paso. Let's hope he can rebound from this defeat.
