The Emergence of Canelo Alvarez

It's been awhile. I know my last blog I promised to continue to say active. Well, things have changed drastically for me since my "All-Star Selection" post. I'm a full-time reporter for the Daily Press now but it has nothing to do with writing about sports, but I'm not stopping until I am a sports writer one day.

Let's cut the crap and get into what's been on my mind for weeks. I wanted to write about this last week but  didn't have the time. Here I am with an hour to spare so I can write and let the world know just how badass Saul "Canelo" Alvarez really is.

Alvarez is coming off a dominating and easy win over Austin Trout on April 20. Heading into the fight I expected it to be slugfest. I expected Alvarez to possibly even stop Trout. But what happened was a more technical fight with Alvarez not allowing Trout to fight as the "taller" fighter. Trout was kept in check after the first round when Alvarez was getting a feel for what Trout was doing. Trout was dictating the fight in the first round by staying active and keeping his distance with the jab. 

After the first round I anticipated a Trout victory just as he was successful against Miguel Angel Cotto back in December. I didn't expect Alvarez to adjust and become a more sound fighter that night. He was brawling but he was smart about it this time. He may have got tagged by a few of Trout's punches, but Alvarez has a chin that can withstand the blow of a sledgehammer from Triple H.

Alvarez showed his ability to counter Trout and surprisingly beat him to the punch throughout the fight. He was landing solid and effective 1-2 combinations. None better than the left-right combo that floored Trout in the opening seconds of the seventh round.

The right looked as if it was shot out of a Colt-45 landing making Trout do the hammerdance, similar to what Kostya Tszyu made Zab Judah do back in 2001. Trout got up valiantly and came back and won the round in my opinion. I'm not sure what the judges scored the round because frankly, I don't give a shit about any judge's scorecards. I can make a whole blog entry on what the sport of Boxing can do to improve the scoring system. Judges should come with an expiration date. There should be a new wave of judges every so often. But like I said, I can write a complete blog about that, but ain't nobody got time fo dat.

Back to Alvarez, he was a bit disappointing as he couldn't KO Trout. But to Alvarez' credit Trout is no slouch nor is he not a walk in to the park. He certainly lacks power but his unorthodox approach to a fight will keep Trout around for a long time. Not to mention he has a size advantage over most Junior Middleweights/Super Welterweights.

Alvarez was impressive in the ninth round when he seemed to tire down. He dropped his hands and bobbed and weave everything but the kitchen sink that Trout threw in the final 24 seconds of the round. Alvarez toyed with Trout then threw another successful combo that made the pugilist laugh after connecting on his foe.

The open scoring system that the Texas state commission uses, took away from the drama of the "championship rounds". Trout knew he needed to score a knockdown to win, and Alvarez knew he just had to finish the fight on his feet. Would we have had a different outcome if the fight took place on it's original May 4 date on the Floyd Mayweather/Robert Guerrero undercard  If the fight took place in Nevada would Alvarez have turned on the burners in the "championship rounds" and stopped Trout via knockout? We don't know!

All the hell I know is, I'm tired of seeing fights take place in Texas. If it's not one thing with them, it's another. The most notable occurrence was back in 09 when Paulie Malignaggi went into the Juan Diaz' hometown and outclassed him only to be screwed the judges who gave the victory to Diaz. Malignaggi would have the last laugh when the rematch took place in Chicago and Maligaggi breezed to a W.

I'm sick of seeing prizefights in Texas, If there is a fight that will take place on Texas, make sure it's a fight that will end up on ESPN Friday Night Fights or Fox Sports Net. Prizefights should be held in Nevada, New York or California. Connecticut has become a nice spot for fights recently, as Atlantic City seems to have become an obsolete destination for prizefights these days.

We saw some more hometown judging in Argentina ;last weekend, when Sergio Martinez successfully defended his Middleweight crown against Martin Murray via unanimous decision. The fight was immensely boring. Martinez looks like a shell of what he used to be and has drastically lost a step. Martinez wasn't effective, Murray started connecting shot after shot as Martinez fought with his hands down, in typical Martinez fashion. Martinez was dropped and if Murray had a bit more of a true Middleweight's power, he would have probably upset the hometown favorite. He suffered a broken hand in the fight and will be out of action for the rest of the year. An anticipated rematch with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is put on the shelf for now as we wait and see what the future has in store for Maravilla.

Amir Khan made a return to the UK against Julio Diaz and just like the hometown Martinez, was dropped in the middle rounds of the fight. Khan was clearly the better man but Diaz was tagging khan all night even wobbling Khan a few other times. Khan was in trouble but managed to withstand Diaz' punishment. Khan still looked lightning fast and solid with his combos, but the man has a chin made of china. Khan's hopes of jumping up to 147 pounds will be short lived as I don't see him withstanding the power of a Welterweight. Golden Boy could have had an easy route to a 147 title for Khan if they would have matched him up with Malignaggi, who currently holds the Welterweight WBA strap. But Malignaggi has his eyes set on Adrien Broner in June.

Judah made his hometown return to Brooklyn also Saturday night against Danny Garcia. The build up to the fight was superb, it had the bad blood we saw with Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis or Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas. These guys hated each other. Mostly it was Danny's father Angel who was the recipient of Judah's verbal lashes. Their initial press conference resulted in a brawl after the outspoken Angel insulted Judah. The fight was postponed after Garcia suffered an injury and was rescheduled for April. During a meet and greet, Judah bombarded the Garcia's event and caused a huge scene. The verbal exchanges led to the Garcia camp being escorted to the back of the store as Judah's camp taunted them chanting "Brooklyn, Brooklyn". The press conference was split, as Judah's camp was forced to sit "in the basement" waiting for Garcia to wrap up his media session. Judah apparently left the building in displeasure on to return and bad mouth Golden Boy Promotions, most notably De La Hoya. The tension was so high, a split weigh in was "necessary" to ensure the fighters would settle all their differences in the ring.

Garcia won the fight, but not without the resiliency of Judah. It was a beating up until the ninth round when Judah stepped on the gas and put forth a heroic finish. Garcia floored Judah and had him in trouble, but Judah managed to stay on his feet. Judah stunned and caught Garcia with power shots that wobbled him. It looked to be snooze fest of a fight but the drama in the final rounds tied in the the drama leading to the fight made it the most entertaining fight of the night. In a show of respect the fighters embraced one another and all the differences were out behind them as the post fight interviews took place. Garcia's future is bright, but I feel if he takes on the winner of the Lamont Peterson/Lucas Matthysse fight, he will be exposed as he was in the final rounds against Judah. I'm not sure what the future has in store for Judah, possibly more undercard bouts at the Barclays as he is an attraction and easy name to sell in his hometown.

- Jose

Erik Morales/Danny Garcia II

This weekend Erik "El Terrible" Morales (52-8; 36 KO) and Danny "Swift" Garcia (24-0' 15 KO) headline a star-studded card by Golden Boy Promotions.

WBA Welterweight Champion, Paulie Malignaggi (31-4; 7 KO) will make a homecoming title defense against the up and coming Pablo Cesar Cano (25-1-1; 19 KO) in a 12 round bout for Malignaggi's WBA Welterweight Championship. Malignaggi is coming off his finest moment as a professional, traveling to the Ukraine and beating Vyacheslav Senchenko vio TKO. Not many gave "The Magic Man" a chance against the undefeated Senchenko but Malignaggi dug down deep to shock the Boxing world. Malignaggi is not known for being much of a puncher with only seven knockouts of his 31 victories. But on that night Malignaggi was masterful with counter punches and combinations keeping Senchenko in check before finally ending the bout in the ninth round. Malignaggi was rewarded with his first title defense in his backyard of Brooklyn, NY at the brand new Barclays Center against Cano.

Cano burst on the scene on the under card of the Mayweather/Ortiz card when he took on Morales. Cano gave Morales trouble early in the fight but the veteran adjusted and taught the youngin' a Boxing lesson winning by decision. Cano comes into the bout looking to spoil a special night for Malignaggi. Cano is hungry and seems to have the fire and fight in his eyes. It's a tough one to call before the bout because we have seen what a determined young fighter can do to a experienced veteran in the past. But Malignaggi still has years of fights left in him at the age of 31 and I feel will start a lengthy title defense reign starting with Cano.

Randall Bailey (43-7; 37 KO) and Devon Alexander (23-1; 13 KO) will finally get it on after the original date of September 8 at The Joint in Las Vegas was scratched due to Bailey suffering a back injury while sparring in preparation for the fight. The Bout will be for Bailey's IBF Welterweight Championship as Alexander looks to win his second title in two different weight classes.

The challenger, Alexander is coming off a display of dominance over Argentinian Marcos Maidana in his first fight as a welterweight. Alexander overwhelmed Maidana with power and speed almost seemingly landing his lead right hook at will.

The last time we saw Bailey, he viciously knocked out Mike Jones in a snooze-fest of a fight, winning the vacant IBF Welterweight title. The two will finally get it on and Bailey is looking to add another KO to his record as Alexander is out to prove to the world that the win over Maidana at 147 pounds wasn't a fluke.
In the main event of the fight, Morales looks for a bit of revenge against Garcia. The two fought back in March 24, Garcia won the bout via unanimous decision. Morales had gallbladder surgery in December, forcing him to withdraw from the original date of January 28. El Terrible recovered, but didn't really look in the best of shape we have seen the fearless Mexican warrior in before. He weighed in two pounds over the the 140 weight limit the day before the fight. Since he failed to make weight, he was stripped of his WBC Junior Welterweight Championship.

The fight started slow and Morales was able to dictate the pace, even busting Garcia's nose and face with his trademark combinations of a stiff jab and straight right hand. But speed was in Garcia's favor the whole night, in the later rounds, Garcia would even keep Morales at bay by forcing him on the ropes and delivering shots that made us wince watching Morales taking the shots. Garcia went on to knocking down El Terrible, but he got back up and finished the fight on his feet. Garcia won the fight by landslide margins on the scorecards. I personally had the fight much closer than the judges did.

Garcia's performance earned him a shot at Amir Khan's WBA Super World Light-Welterweight Champion in a unification bout. Garcia was the underdog coming into the fight as many people gave the edge to Khan. Khan seemed to outclass Garcia in the first two rounds, utilizing his speed. Then late in the third round, Garcia caught Khan with a counter left hook, and knocked him down. Khan was able to survive the round as he was saved by the bell. In the next round, Garcia dropped Khan two times prompting the referee to step in and stop the bout.

This fight has a few implications that could affect the future of Boxing. If Garcia wins, that would be his third victory this year and would easily propel him into the marquee group of the Junior Welterweight division with names like Lucas Matthyse, Brandon Rios, and Juan Manuel Marquez. A big fight with any of those names could be on the horizon, with a fight against Matthyse the most likely as they share the same promoter. I wont even get into the Golden Boy/Top Rank fiasco.

If Morales wins, where does he go from here? Will he retire, and exit the sport on top and at his own will? Will he make one final championship run and fight somebody like Matthyse (whom he was supposed to fight, but injury forced him to fight Cano) or Marquez. A fight between the two has been rumored since their days of sharing the featherweight division during the glory days when Marco Antonio Barerra, Manny Pacquiao, Marquez, and Morales were the cream of the crop. Negotiations have broken off a few times before between the camps, and looks more difficult now with Marquez worrying about a December bout with Pacquiao and Morales' eyes set on Garcia this Saturday.

If you're a Boxing fan, you may not want to miss this fight. The action will certainly make this fight a Fight of the Year candidate and for all we know, it could be the last time we ever see Morales lace up the gloves in a Boxing ring.

My Predictions

- Devon Alexander will outbox the free swinging Randall Bailey and overcome a knockdown to win via unanimous decison.

-Paulie Malignaggi will retain his WBA belt by withstanding a young and hungry Pablo Cesar Cano. I want to say Malignaggi wiins via TKO, but I'll go the safe route and say majority decision.

- I'm really hoping Erik Morales knocks out Danny Garcia.