Canelo Makes First Title Defense:
HBO’s card Saturday evening presented two intriguing bouts, centered on Saul Alvarez and his return to his hometown and country of Guadalajara, Mexico. Alvarez didn’t disappoint in his homecoming, taking care of business and making the 1st defense of his WBC junior middleweight title. The best moment of the card though came in the co-feature, featuring Adrien Broner vs. Jason Litzau.
In that opening bout of the telecast, opinions were mixed on who might prevail. Broner has a ton of talent, but largely disappointed as he eked out a way against Daniel Ponce De Leon. Jason Litzau on the other hand was coming off of his huge upset win against Celestino Caballero, and had a renewed focus and vigor for training and preparation.
It wouldn’t take long to see how the fight would play out, however. In the very first round, Broner got Litzau against the ropes and with time ticking down on the stanza, landed enough leather to turn Litzau into a crumpled heap on the canvas as the referee hurriedly jumped in and waved it off. Official time was 2:58 of Round 1, and Broner improves to 21-0 with 17 KOs, while Litzau falls to 28-3.
To the main event, Alvarez improved his own undefeated mark to an impressive 37-0-1 with 27 KOs. Rhodes was, as predicted, simply overmatched and overwhelmed from the start of this contest.
Alvarez controlled much of the entire bout, dropping Rhodes in the fourth and continuing to pile up points and accumulate damage against his man. In the 12th, Rhodes opened up more to try to score his own KO, and Canelo took advantage, hurting Rhodes badly enough that the referee jumped in and called it off in the final stanza.
Alvarez continues to build up his huge fan base and growing momentum in the sport, and with this homecoming bout taken care of, it will be very interesting to see what kind of opponent he gets next, and when and where that bout will be.
Talk has been that he will share the Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz card and Mexican Independence Day weekend, a natural fit. It’s unknown whether or not he will be at a second site, or fighting from the same location, however.
