This past Saturday Sept. 17 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV., as well as the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA., Mayweather Promotions in association with Golden Boy Promotions presented “STAR POWER: Mayweather vs. Ortiz,” broadcast on HBO PPV, and the excitement was abound as Floyd “Money” Mayweather (42-0, 26KOs) won the WBC welterweight strap by a controversial 4th round knockout of “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22KOs) in a scheduled welterweight twelve. While Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KOs) defended his WBC light middleweight belt by ending Alfonso Gomez (23-5-2, 12KOs) in the 6th of a scheduled twelve and Saul’s victory wasn’t without debate either.
The much anticipated return of newly crowned WBC Welterweight Champion and two time Fighter of the Year Floyd “Money” Mayweather of Las Vegas by way of Grand Rapids, Michigan, began surprisingly swift for – in his words – the Worlds Best Champion.
Mayweather rolled right up on Victor and landed a few straight right’s up top and one to the mid-section while Ortiz bounced on his feet and jabbed looking to gauge Floyd. Moments later Floyd landed a crisp straight right and it was a sign of things to come. A minute in Victor began to let his hands go a little with rights hooks, straight lefts and a hybrid right uppercut-hook with nothing landing cleanly on “Money.” Floyd was backing Ortiz from the get go and Victor is known for having trouble going in reverse but the Mexican/American kept a good pace employing his arsenal as Floyd slipped, blocked and ducked to perfection. Mayweather landed a few more clean laser beam right hands to Victor’s chin and towards the end of round one Victor had “Money” against the ropes and connected with a straight left to Floyd’s mouth to the close the stanza which went to Floyd.
Ortiz found better success in the 2nd frame as he came out pushing forward and unleashing combos and while it looked good the punches were still finding arm, glove and shoulder. As Victor was attacking aggressively Floyd countered him with another bulls-eye right-hand upstairs on the money. Ortiz landed a good right hook to the head followed by a left to the torso halfway through the period on the unusually aggressive Mayweather who was now stalking again. Floyd resumed landing easy lead right hands to the center of Victor’s face who was making it look competitive when it wasn’t, the Mexican was being dominated by one punch. At this point Ortiz seemed to get a little frustrated as he began rough housing “Money” May to the ropes than pushing the top of his head into Floyd’s face and continued that ploy for the remainder of the evening. With a minute to go in the 2nd Ortiz landed his best punch thus far, a big straight left on the chin of the backing Mayweather that twisted Floyd’s head but he handled it and grinned and went back to sharp shooting to put another round in the bank.
The 3rd period was dominated by Floyd as he lit up “Vicious” Vic and it all started with a hard counter right hook to the top of Ortiz’s head that seemed to change things. Victor began backing and stopped punching for at least twenty seconds after that and may have been stunned by the punch. When they began to box again Floyd landed a few left hooks followed by a thunderous straight to the chin of Ortiz who was pushed back by the blow but took it well. Floyd was utilizing his jab and left hook well in the 3rd as he was extremely accurate. Ortiz landed a few straight left’s but nothing major or in succession as Floyd brushed them all off and closed the round with a big lead uppercut to Ortiz’s face.
The 4th frame saw some good action as both men were letting their hands go in combination trading leather. Floyd started the round throwing a barrage of jabs, left hooks and straight rights just before landing a stout right upper cut – right cross – left hook combination upstairs. Mayweather followed that bevy of blows with a big left hook to the side of Victor’s head and a mighty right cross to his ribs that had Ortiz driving forward like a ram with the top of his head aimed high trying to muscle and smother Floyd against the ropes. After third man in the ring “The Fair But Firm” Joe Cortez warned Victor for leading with his head Mayweather blasted him while in reverse with a sturdy right uppercut left hook to the dome. Ortiz responded by landing a monstrous right cross to the side of Floyd’s jaw that was by far Ortiz’s hardest and cleanest punch to that point which got the crowd on their feet. Floyd shook his head to say, “I’m okay,” then was blasted by a Victor Ortiz straight left and all of a sudden “Money” May was against the ropes getting thumped. Mayweather pushed Victor off him, shook his head again and caught Ortiz with consecutive lead right hands on the button.
Ortiz gained confidence and drove Floyd into the ropes while letting his hands go but caught arm’s and leather. Floyd began to push Ortiz back again and shot a few punches that caught nothing but before landing his signature hard lead right to the nose of Victor. With :20 seconds to go in the 4th round Floyd punched Victor with a good uppercut to which the Mexican countered with a powerful counter right hook – straight left to the undefeated fighters head. The crowd jumped on it’s feet once again as Ortiz – who probably thought he had Floyd hurt – aggressively backed “Money” into the ropes and fired off a barrage of straight rights and left hooks to the head and body of Floyd. Just when it looked like the tides were changing Victor followed up his flurry of punches by leaping off his feet and leading with the crown of his dome – like Pele trying to score a goal – blatantly head-butting Mayweather on the chin opening up a gash. Floyd grabbed his chin and complained while Cortez turned his head taking his eye off the combatants to call time out. At that point not so “Vicious” Victor approached Mayweather for a hug and a kiss which Floyd allowed.
Joe Cortez than took Ortiz by the arm and deducted a point as Victor reached out to Floyd with his other arm to again apologize by touching gloves, which Floyd obliged. After scolding Victor in the corner Cortez looked at Mayweather and said, “let’s go,” but then took his eyes off the boxers again and looked at the officials and said something like, “You’re in,” or “time in,” or something like that. While Joe was performing his job like a novice with no control of the situation Victor, before resuming the fight wanted to apologize to Floyd for a third time which they did. As the fighters were coming apart Victor’s hands were down and the ready Mayweather – some say smartly while other’s say cheaply – took advantage of the unready Ortiz and ripped him with a left right combination that flopped “Vicious” Victor hard on his back with feet in the air. Cortez, who only saw the second punch because he was looking at the time keeper immediately began to count. Victor, who only saw Floyd’s first punch because he foolishly looked to Joe Cortez after getting hit with the first left hook, tried to make it to his feet but Mayweather’s strikes were just too clean and powerful as Victor made it to his knees before falling forward and that was all she wrote. Cortez waved off the action in a stunning ending as Floyd “Money” Mayweather won the WBC welterweight championship by knocking out Ortiz with :08 seconds to go in the 4th round taking “Money” May’s resume to 42-0 with twenty-six early endings.
With the crushing defeat brought on by himself “Vicious” Victor Ortiz falls to 29-3-2 with twenty-two kayo’s and where he goes from here who knows – possibly a rematch with Floyd – but I can only suspect he will beat himself up much worse than Floyd did for weeks, months or even the rest of his career after immaturely blowing the biggest opportunity he may ever get.
Where the WBC welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather goes from here will probably be a long vacation then hopefully a return against Manny Pacquiao but probably not!
Much ado to the 34-year-old Mayweather’s arrogant, disrespectful and irresponsible ways many in the boxing world lost their top when viewing the five-division world champion’s path to victory, all while giving less attention than deserved to his opponent 24-year-old Ortiz’s blatant head-butt. And let’s be fair, if you go back and watch the tape Ortiz – of Oxnard, CA., by way of Garden City Kansas – was a billy-goat for the whole scrap. He continually pushed the crown of his head into Floyd’s chin getting more pronounced as the rounds went on. It wasn’t something Victor did out of nowhere it was something he knowingly utilized throughout.
It’s all been said in the last twenty-four hours so I’ll keep it quick and to the point, Ortiz got exactly what he deserved. Was it cheap on Mayweather’s behalf? A little but in all reality Victor was lucky Floyd didn’t hit him the first time Ortiz apologetically accosted him all tender and affectionate. This was a fight and these are fighters so it seems plausible we might get a fighters reaction. In my opinion most fighters would of done the same thing when fouled in such an obvious way. Would many men choose to handle it with more class by waiting for their opponent to be fully ready to fight with eyes focused? Yes but in the heat of the moment the majority would of handled it “Pretty Boy” Floyd style and justifiably so. Don’t start none there won’t be none; isn’t that how that saying goes?
Okay I lied, one more thing. Reverse the situation and the masses would have celebrated Floyd getting what he deserved. Let’s be clear, It’s the person committing the perceived foul and not the foul in and of itself.
The co-feature from the Staples Center in L.A. didn’t disappoint as 21-year-old undefeated “Canelo” Alvarez of Guadalajara, Jalisco, MEX., and 30-year-old Alfonso Gomez came to fight like Aztec warriors on Mexican Independence Day.
Alfonso Gomez, also of Guadalajara, Jalisco, MEX., while growing up in Napa, CA., entered the 1st period coming forward bobbing-and-weaving as he looked for an opening on the champion who was periodically jabbing with his guard up also looking for spots of attack. The first good punch was landed by Gomez when he hit “Cinnamon” on the jaw with a left hook that Alvarez countered with a left hook of his own. Gomez was putting the pressure on the carrot topped Mexican and landed another left hook upstairs to which Alvarez countered with the same punch in the same spot. Alfonso utilized a good jab to set things up in a close 1st round until “Canelo” caught Gomez with a short sneaky jab that floored Gomez in a 10-8 opening frame for Saul.
The 2nd was much like the 1st round with Gomez approaching “Canelo” who continued to circled towards Alfonso’s right hand. Alfonso was jabbing and trying to zero in a on a straight right to Alvarez’s head while Saul snapped a left hook to the body, short left uppercut and straight right up top. Moments later Gomez landed a right hand left hook combo to the face of “Canelo.” When Alvarez punched it was with bad intentions and some of the strikes were even a little wild as he seemed to be having a hard time figuring out the rugged Gomez. Alfonso landed a hard straight right to “Canelo’s” chin then went to work on his body with both hands and Alvarez returned the favor moments later with some nice rights and lefts to Gomez’s ribs in a close 2nd frame.
A minute into the 3rd round Gomez landed a hard right hand to Saul’s mouth that had got his attention causing him to return some heavy artillery to Gomez’s ribcage and head followed by a right uppercut several seconds later. Alfonso began controlling the pace and dictating the action in the 3rd period which seemed to frustrate Alvarez as Gomez worked him some more with right hands and left hooks to the liver with better timing. To close the round “Canelo” clipped Gomez with a right uppercut but got his head twisted by a clean right hand by Alfonso for his troubles in a round that definitely went to the challenger.
Gomez also won the 4th frame with more of the same, right-hands to the head, body work with both hands and the occasional left hook upstairs. Alvarez would fire back hard combinations consisting of straight rights and left hooks high and low but nothing that landed super clean. Alvarez just wasn’t busy enough and was only engaging when engaged which made for some nice back-and-forth for the fans when it happened. The story of the 4th stanza was Alfonso’s right hand which couldn’t miss although “Canelo” smashed Gomez with two powerful right uppercuts to close a Gomez 4th.
A minute into the 5th round Gomez got Alvarez against the ropes and clocked him with yet another right hand upstairs in the middle of a five punch combo and it was clear Alfonso Gomez was taking over the fight. The surprising script continued until the end of the 5th when Alvarez landed a mighty right hand to the middle of Gomez’s face and followed it up with hard right hand left hook combination that got Gomez’s attention. Gomez connected on another hard right up high to close out round but “Canelo” returned with a massive left hook to the side of Alfonso’s jaw in a close period.
“Canelo’s” punches were much harder and affective but Gomez was outworking and out landing the WBC kingpin. In another close round that saw each man connecting with good shots the fight suddenly took a turn when Saul socked Alfonso with a devastating right uppercut straight right combo to the head that rocked Gomez and had him backing all the way across the ring and in serious trouble. “Canelo” followed Alfonso across the ring and thumped him with three hard straight rights and a left hook to the liver when referee Wayne Hedgepath jumped in-between the warriors and prematurely stopped the contest when Alfonso had his guard up and earned the right to try and recover. In Hedgepath’s defense I will say that Gomez did stumble into the ropes seconds after the bout was waved off but in my opinion and the eyes of most watching the stoppage was early.
Nonetheless “Canelo” won by 5th round TKO at :23 seconds of the period and retained his WBC light middleweight belt as he improves his undefeated record to 38-0-1 with twenty-eight KO’s as he looks to names like Alfredo Angulo, Vanes Martirosyan and WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
“I feel I was doing my job well to begin. I dropped him in the 1st round and was simply doing my job thinking it was only a matter of time,” said Saul in the post fight interview when Mario Solis asked “Canelo” why he lost so many early rounds.
When asked about the stoppage and whether he though it was early “Canelo” responded, “It’s not my job to judge the referee I’m simply here to do my own job and I believe the people really liked this fight.”
While I thought “Canelo” was a little off his game and got touched too often, two great Mexican’s in Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera made a career of blocking punches with their heads while being able to stay on their feet and maintain kingpin status for years. This is boxing and not everyone’s as gifted as Floyd Mayweather Jr. and other great defensive boxers so you better be able to take a punch then retaliate with more volume and accuracy if you want to be great. Therefore I won’t look into the fact that Canelo got hit frequently with a magnifying glass quite yet. It made for an exciting fight and at the end of the day Canelo knocked Alfonso out and that’s what we ask for as fans.
“I felt like I was still able to continue, the referee looked for a reason to stop it and he found it,” said Alfonso post fight adding, “He’s a great fighter, he hits pretty hard but I felt that it was pretty even to that point but it is what it is. I knew this was going to happen they were looking for a reason to stop it and he [referee] did.”
After writing in a rap song that Canelo would taste defeat it was the former “Contender” reality star Alfonso Gomez who left the ring with a sour taste in his mouth feeling he didn’t get a fair shake but had the fight gone on the taste would have been just as sour. With the defeat Alfonso falls to 23-5-2 with twelve of the bouts ending early.
In the second bout of the evening Mexican legend 35-year-old Erik “El Terrible” Morales (52-7, 36KOs) of Tijuana, MEX., made history when he became the first ever Mexican four-division world champion by laying down a beating on the game baby-faced 21-year-old Pablo “El Demoledor” Cesar Cano (22-1-1, 17KOs), of Tlalnepantla, MEX., showing Cano how to lose with a 10th round TKO to win the vacant WBC super lightweight championship on a historical evening for Mexican’s and boxing fans the world over.
The young undefeated Cano was a late replacement when Lucas Matthysse had to bow out due to an illness and “El Demoledor” started strong showing no signs of intimidation at the hands of Morales. Cano was snapping numerous jabs, a few straight rights to the head and left hooks down low while Morales was standing flat-footed not doing much. Neither man was taking the ring but sharing it as they switched off between who was coming forward. Morales was releasing right hands to the head and left hooks to the torso but not scoring while Cano didn’t land anything significant in the opening period either although he took the round on his jab alone.
Morales looked a little tight and Cano drilled him with a hard right hand left hook to the head a minute into the 2nd frame as Morales returned the favor twenty seconds later with a sturdy right to Cano’s face. Cano’s jab was snapping back Erik’s head and he then caught Morales with a big right uppercut, left hook right hook combo up top. Morales spent much of round 2 coming forward while Cano moved and boxed. Erik caught Pablo with a few stout right’s to the face and the 21-year-old took the blows well and continued to land his own and after two rounds of boxing Cano was up 20-18.
The pace was good in the 3rd frame as the men exchanged and Morales found better success landing his straight right to the dome and stomach of Cano in another close round that Erik looked to win.
Morales’ hands looked very slow and telegraphed but nonetheless at 1:45 of round 4 Morales dropped his best punch, a clean right hand bomb on Pablo that had the young man in retreat mode once it touched his face and Erik followed with another crisp right to the jaw and two hard left hooks upstairs. Morales was having a good round when a cut opened outside the left eye of Cano and Morales continued to land good left hooks high and low. Cano was pawing at his wound as the blood began to flow and Morales nailed him with a huge right hand on the jaw that looked like a knockout punch as Cano held and took the blow well. The combatants exchanged until the end of a big 4th frame for Morales and the fans in Las Vegas were getting a another good fight.
Cano got his bearing’s back in the 5th and boxed well with his jab landing left hooks to the body and head as well as the lead right to the face of “El Terrible.” Morales wasn’t doing anything in the round and at :45 seconds Cano zoned in on his best shot, a hard overhand right to the side of Erik’s head that had the three division world champion confused and backing up. Cano and Morales ended the stanza going toe-to-toe successfully in another good round for Cano.
Morales had a good first minute in the 6th round capping it off with a resounding lead right that snapped back Pablo’s head but Cano came back shooting combo’s and landing a hard right to the kisser of his own. Moments later Cano blasted Erik with a hard right uppercut left hook to the grill but once again Morales came right back in nice see-saw action. At :30 seconds of the round Morales landed a huge left hook to the side of the head that seemed to affect Cano but he came right back and kept punching in a good frame for both men.
The back and forth continued in the 7th as blood appeared out of Morales’ left eye form a Cano right hand which caused him to paw at and protect it. Cano connected on a hard right uppercut then a straight right upstairs as the blood seemed to bother Erik who got lit up in the frame.
Morales entered the next round with a sense of urgency throwing hard rights and lefts successfully at Cano’s head. Both men were looking worse for the wear but Cano’s eyes were also starting to swell a little. At 1:30 of the period Morales caught Cano with a right hand bomb followed by two more good 
one’s but the tough kid kept fighting. Cano was landing plenty of punches throughout but just didn’t have the fire power to hurt Morales like Erik had the pop to hurt him.
The round was going pretty evenly in the 9th until at 1:51 Morales clipped Cano with a left hook to the side of the face and followed it with a overhand right. Cano was still landing rights and lefts to Erik’s head but not with enough force to keep Erik from stalking and hitting him with meaningful shots.
Entering the 10th stanza Cano’s eyes were badly swollen and his power was zapped as he landed a straight right up top. Morales’ jabs were snapping back Cano’s head back and at 1:25 of the period he blasted Cano with two right-hand’s on Pablo’s busted eye which caused blood to spill from the wound. Erik sensed the end and put the pressure on Cano whose face was a mess and at the 1:00 mark referee Kenny Bayless halted the action to have the doctor take a look and the doc let the battle resume. Erik continued to push the pace and thumped Cano with a few more hard rights and lefts until the bell. The battered Cano went back to his corner and after checking out his fighter, Cano’s trainer Rudy Perez asked Bayless to stop the fight and with that Erik “El Terrible” Morales became the first ever four-division world champion stopping Pablo Cesar Cano for the vacant WBC super lightweight championship by 11th round technical knockout as “El Terrible” improves to 52-7 sending thirty six foe’s home early.
Erik Morales is the epitome of a blood and guts warrior and while he didn’t get off to a great start in his bid for a fourth world title in a fourth division “El Terrible” took the punishment, stood his ground and made the needed adjustments to hand down a patented Mexican beat down.
What’s next for Morales remains to be seen but he has plenty of options. Win or lose against Manny Pacquiao I’d like to see Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez go to WAR in 2010.
As for Pablo Cesar Cano, he fought valiantly against a much more experienced and tough as nails legend under the bright lights while making a fine account of himself. Cano has talent and plenty of time to go back to the drawing board and become great someday after this learning experience. Cano should be praised for making Erik Morales fourth world title victory no walk in the park!
The PPV telecast from Sin City began with a closely contested brawl between Las Vegas’ 22-year-old undefeated Jessie Vargas (17-0, 9KOs) of Mayweather Promotion’s and Riverside’s rugged 27-year-old Josesito Lopez (29-4, 17KOs), in a close 10 round junior welterweight rumble.
Both men entered the 1st round at a good pace with Lopez connecting on some nice rights and lefts downstairs while Vargas utilized a good jab and landed a few powerful right hand’s and left hook’s to the face of Josesito. Jessie was moving around the ring while Josesito stalked forward towards his prey in a pretty evenly matched start.
Vargas was working behind a good stiff jab while Josesito successfully focused on power punches to the body and head. Toward the end of the 2nd round Jessie and Josesito exchanged some nice body shots and Vargas probably won the first few frames with his jab and accuracy but he was definitely being pressured by Lopez in a close affair.
Vargas was clearly quicker and began to let his fist fly in accurate combinations to start the 3rd period but Josesito came back with hard left hook’s to the body and right uppercut’s to the chin and nose. Jessie’s best punches were his jab and left hook to the head but he didn’t forget the body touching both sides often. The intense Lopez though was muscling Vargas about the ring and looking to simply overpower Jessie’s finesse with brawn and the plan began to work as he was able to get Vargas to trade on the inside where Lopez landed thumping shots up top with both hands which seemed to be taking a toll on Jessie.
The mentally tough Josesito Lopez was taking it to the undefeated fighter who expended a good amount of energy through the first four rounds due to moving and fighting hard. Lopez had zero respect for Vargas’ thought to be good power and when they began to bump Lopez got the better of the exchanges.
Though he was in a dog fight Vargas wouldn’t digress. Sticking to his plan he continued to jab, move and shoot good combinations but to Josesito’s credit most of Jessie’s punches caught leather or were glancing blows. Vargas lost the 3rd and 4th frames but came back with a good 5th winning on accuracy.
Lopez came out strong in the 6th but Vargas withstood the onslaught and was connecting on pin-point counter strikes upstairs. Josesito was landing the much more powerful and effective blows but Jessie was still landing stout shots and doing so more often taking the stanza.
A cut was opened over the right eye of Josesito midway through the encounter due to an accidental head-butt. Josesito, unaffected by the cut returned strong in the 7th round and landed the biggest punch thus far, a huge left hook to Jessie’s jaw that had the Las Vegan backpedaling but grinning to acknowledge he wasn’t hurt. Lopez rough housed through the duration of the fight tossing Jessie to the canvas with his arms on a few separate occasions.
:40 seconds into the 8th Vargas hit Lopez with a left check hook that was clearly a low blow and seemingly without any warnings third man in the ring Tony Weeks undeservedly deducted a point from Vargas. Lopez came close but didn’t seem to do enough to take advantage of the point deduction and win the round resulting in a 9-9 stanza.
Vargas was on the move the entire night but he wasn’t running he was effectively moving and boxing. Jessie displayed this observation alongside a high work rate in 9th round as he took it from Lopez with crisp counter punching.
Jessie entered the 10th and final round busy, throwing numerous rights and lefts to Lopez’s head that didn’t carry much power or land very cleanly but he was working for the judges. Maybe the cut Lopez sustained midway through the tussle had something to do with it but he just wasn’t busy enough down the stretch and got outworked by the superior skilled Vargas who had Josesito backing in the final frame. Jessie was having a huge 10th round unleashing a barrage of power punches when Lopez caught him with a thunderous double left hook from the liver to the jaw and it hurt the now retreating Vargas who was looking to hold and had the final period stolen from him.
When the score cards were read Jessie Vargas did enough to remain undefeated with tallies of 95-94 Lopez, 96-93 Vargas and 95-94 Vargas, improving Jessie’s resume to 17-0 with nine stoppages.
Riverside’s game Josesito Lopez falls to 29-4 with seventeen wins coming by way of knockout and has no reason to hang his head as he fought valiantly and should receive another shot to prove his worth soon.
Vargas is Floyd’s protégé but after watching him go through trials and tribulation’s with Josesito Lopez I think it’s safe to say Jessie is not a prototype of his glitz and glamour promoter but a good fighter with noteworthy skills that will probably get a world title shot in the future. Whether he can win that title or not is not a foregone conclusion but on September 17th Jessie Vargas worked hard, showed skill and pounded out a victory against a tough S.O.B., and that’s what fighters do.