By Ken Hissner: Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez successfully defended his titles defeating Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin. In the co-main event, WBC Super Fly champion Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez made his second defense by defeating No. 13 ranked Israel “Jiga” González.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 58-2-2 (39), #167 1⁄2, from Guadalajara, MEX, defeated Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin, 58-2-2 (39), #167 1⁄2, from Guadalajara, MEXICO 42-2-1 (37), #167 3⁄4, from Karaganda, KAZ and Los Angeles, CA, in 12 rounds.
In the first two rounds, GGG countered with an effective jab against Canelo’s occasional landing right hand. In the third and fourth rounds, Canelo landed left hooks marking GGG’s face with red marks.
In the fifth round, Canelo continues to throw more power shots, including overhand rights, preventing GGG from countering enough to win the round. In the sixth round, GGG controlled the entire round with a powerful jab that kept Canelo at bay.
In the seventh and eighth rounds, GGG continues to use the jab, but Canelo fights back long enough to take the round. In the ninth round, GGG seemed to get the second wind of him having the best round of the fight for himself backing up Canelo with power shots and occasional rights to the chin.
In the 10th round, GGG landed a triple jab that kept Canelo from countering him, but rarely. In the eleventh round, GGG shows that he has more left in the tank than Canelo, but it may not be enough since he lost most of the previous rounds. In the twelfth and final round, Canelo looked exhausted and provoked hold after hold, causing referee Russell Mora to work harder than at any point in the fight, but Canelo felt he had the win, but not a good ending. for him since the last four rounds.
The scores were 116-112 and 115-113 twice just like this writer.
In the co-main event, WBC super flyweight champion, southpaw Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez, 17-0 (11), #114 ¾, of San Antonio, TX, defeated Israel “Jiga” González, 28-5- 1 (11), #114 ½, from Los Cabos, Baja California, MEX, in 12 rounds.
In the first three rounds, Rodriguez outboxed Gonzalez in the second and third primarily with a solid jab that backed his opponent up with an occasional chin advantage.
In the fourth round, both Rodríguez and González began to go to the body in an even fight at the end of four rounds, González won this round. In the fifth round, Rodriguez had Gonzalez cornered for the most part. In the sixth and seventh rounds, Rodriguez began to take control for the most part by having Gonzalez on the ropes.
In the eighth round at twenty seconds a clash of heads caused a cut on González’s left eyebrow. In the final 20 seconds, a low right hook from Rodríguez dropped González, who got time from referee Kenny Bayless to rest, costing Rodríguez a point. In the ninth round, Rodriguez going to the body backed up Gonzalez taking the round.
In the closing seconds of the tenth round, Rodriguez had Gonzalez pinned against the ropes with a flurry of punches.
In the eleventh round, Rodríguez entered the championship rounds and was out landing González, though both were throwing punches in bunches until a low blow dropped González. In the twelfth and final round, for the most part, Rodriguez had Gonzalez on the ropes with a solid body attack.
The scores were 118-109, 117-110 and 114-113 just like this writer.
Ali Akhmedov, 19-1 (14), #167 ¾, of Almaty, KAZ, won an easy decision over “King” Gabriel Rosado, 26-16-1 (15), #167 ½, of Phila., PA and Los Angeles, CA, in 10 rounds, for the vacant IBF North American and WBC Silver Super Middle titles.
In the first three rounds, Akhmedov outboxed Rosado and caused some swelling on his left cheek and above his eye. In the fourth round, Rosado advanced with an occasional jab, but Akhmedov countered it.
A minute into the fifth round, an Akhmedov combination to the side of the head rocked Rosado. In the final 10 seconds, an Akhmedov right hand landed on Rosado’s chin to take another round. In the sixth and seventh rounds, Rosado continues to enter fast hand combinations from Akhmedov with only occasional punches landed by Rosado.
In the eighth and ninth rounds, the 36-year-old Rosado looked that age and lost every round. Akhmedov has an answer for him in every move Rosado makes with the left side of his face swollen. In the tenth and final round, Akhmedov continued to shut out Rosado, whose career might have come to an end. The referee was Tony Weeks.
The scores were 100-90 from all the judges and this writer.
Southpaw Austin “Ammo” Williams, 12-0 (9), #160, from Houston, TX, defeated Kieron “Top Class” Conway, 18-3-1 (4), #159 ¾, from Northampton, United Kingdom , over 10 rounds, scoring the only loss for the vacant WBA International Middleweight title.
In the first round, it wasn’t until a minute remained that Conway landed his first effective body shot. Williams was ahead throughout the round working on Conway. He rocked Conway with 20 seconds to go with a chin lead to get his attention. In the second and third, Conway spent too much time on the ropes and finally broke open midway through the third, but Williams still got the better of him.
In the fourth, Conway finally found some offense as he landed a lead right to the chin in the dying seconds of his first round. In the fifth round, Conway controlled until the last minute of the round, Williams hitting a go-ahead to the chin and drawing Conway’s attention. In the closing seconds, Williams again landed a left hand to the chin that dropped Conway into a clinch.
In the sixth round, Conway took control with straight rights to Williams’ chin. In the seventh round, late in the first minute, Williams landed a combination to the chin that had Conway in a corner and grabbed Williams in a clinch. The rest of the round was another close one. In the eighth round, Conway let Williams steal the round in the closing seconds and cornered him with a combination.
In the ninth round, Williams broke his nose drawing blood from Conway. In the middle of a right uppercut from Williams and a left hand driving his head down ruled a knockdown by referee Robert Hoyle. In the tenth and final round, Williams outpointed Conway and it seemed he had done enough to take the win.
The scores were 97-92 twice and 96-93 the same for the writer.
Diego Pacheco, 16-0 (13), #167, of South Central Los Angeles, CA, KO’d 2012 Olympian Enrique “Kikin” Collazo, 16-3-1 (11), #167 ¾, of San Juan, PR , at 2:29 of the fifth round of a scheduled 10 rounds for the vacant WBC US Super Middleweight title.
In the first three rounds there was little contact with the taller Pacheco advancing without pulling the trigger, throwing only occasional punches. In the fourth round, Pacheco landed the first solid right hand so far that dropped Collazo into a clinch.
In the fifth round at 6:04 Pacheco finally went offensive with a right hand to the body with a devastating right to the chin from Collazo who was knocked down for Referee Celestino Ruiz’s count.
Lightweight Marc Castro, 8-0 (6), #134 ½, of Fresno, CA, knocked out Kevin “El Konan” Montiel Mendoza, 7-2-2 (4), #135 ¼, of Cuado López, MEX , at 1:40 of the fifth round of 8 scheduled rounds.
In the first two rounds, Castro controlled the round with an effective jab with occasional left hooks to Montiel’s chin. In the third round, Castro continued to control the action with left hooks only once Mendoza caught him with a right hand.
In the closing seconds of the fourth round, a right hand from Castro to the chin almost knocked over a wearing Mendoza. In the fifth round, Castro slipped a jab and landed a right uppercut to the chin and Mendoza went down and out without a count from referee Tony Weeks.
Super Lightweight Aaron “The Alien King” Aponte, 6-0-1 (2), #139 ¾, of Hialeah Gardens, FL, in a split tie with Fernando “Ferros” Molina, 8-0-1 (3), #140 , from Guadalajara, MEX, after 8 rounds with both scoring a knockdown.
There was plenty of action in the first round with Aponte, taller by 6 inches, knocking out Molina’s mouthpiece in the closing seconds. In the second round, Molina was landing rights to the chin until he landed a punch and bodies collided and Molina went down for a ruled 8 count by referee Robert Hoyle near the end of the round.
In the third round, Molina, who was coming low with his hands to his sides, took body shots from Aponte who was raising those hands. At the midpoint of the fourth round, Molina staggered Aponte with a right hand to the chin that nearly dropped him with both throws at the same time.
In the fifth round, after a minute, Molina landed a left uppercut and a couple of rights that hurt Aponte. With 20 seconds remaining, a right uppercut followed by a Molina left hook to the chin and down went Aponte for a count of 8 by referee Hoyle.
In the sixth round he was close with Aponte coming back well. In the seventh round there was blood from Molina’s mouth when the referee called a halt due to a loose tape on Molina’s glove. As the action continued, they both had their moments with Aponte in the lead. In the eighth and final round, there were no punches for half a minute, then things got a little better until the last minute, when Aponte started moving around the ring and gave up the round.
The scores were 76-74 Molina, 76-74 Aponte and 75-75 with this writer 76-74 Aponte.
Super Fly Anthony “Superman” Herrera, 3-0-1 (2), #114 ¾, from East Los Angeles, CA, defeated Delvin “Gator” McKinley, 4-4-1 (4), #116, from New Orleans, LA, by technical decision after 0:19 of round 5 in 6 scheduled rounds. The scores were all 40-35.
In the first two rounds, Herrera defeated McKinley with a strong second round that had swelling under both of McKinley’s eyes. In the third round, although he had swelling over his left eye, Herrera landed plenty of left hooks to the body backing up McKinley.
In the fourth round, Herrera landed close to twenty unanswered punches midway through the round. In the fifth round, due to a body shot from Herrera and a clash of heads, McKinley went down and got a break in the action that caused his left hand to nearly shut down. They will go to the scorecards when the ring doctor stops the competition. The referee was Celestino Ruiz.
Ring Announcer David Diamante
