Centro De Convenciones, Rosarito, Baja California - Two Mexican rivals came to face to face on friendly terms. Former world champions Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. both at ringside - but their support was on opposite sides.
Chavez Jr. was there to support former world champion Antonio Margarito (40-8, 27 KOs), while Canelo was ringside for his older brother Ramon Alvarez (23-5-2, 15 KOs).
In the main event of the card, Margarito won a ten round split decision over Alvarez to capture the WBO Continental super welterweight championship. The scores were 95-94 Alvarez, and 97-92, 97-92 for Margarito.
Canelo is training for a world title fight on September 17th, when he challenges WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The return of Chavez Jr. is unknown at the moment. He wants to come back in September after suffering several injuries that have kept him away from the ring since July of 2015.
This was Margarito's second fight since breaking his retirement in March, when he won a ten round decision over Jorge Paez Jr. In that contest Margarito was knocked down and seemed to be seriously hurt. He survived that near disaster to pull off the win. Prior to the March bout, Margarito retired in December 2011 after getting stopped in his rematch with Miguel Cotto.
Coming into this contest, Alvarez had not lost in his last 10 outings in the ring, including nine victories, eight of them by knockout, and one no-contest after a head clash. Alvarez prepared hard for this fight with the help of his younger brother, Canelo.
