By Paul Strauss: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wins every round leading up to a twelfth round stoppage of Ryan Rhodes. Rhosdes was gracious in defeat, calling the youngster a superstar. He admitted that he underestimated Alvarez’s power, especially the shots he took to the body. His face didn’t look too good either, as he was swollen under both eyes, and sustained a cut under the right eye. Alvarez remained unmarked.
Alvarez’ hand speed, along with his power, was the key. Rhodes couldn’t get anything off in the way of damaging counters. He just couldn’t time the explosiveness of Canelo. When he did find moments (very few) to get off with any kind of offense, his punches would either fall short, be slipped, or blocked by Canelo. Only a hand full ever got through, and none of them bothered Canelo at all.
This was a very good fight for Canelo for several reasons. First of all, it was an impressive one sided victory for him in front of his hometown fans. Equally important, he got in a lot of good work, in the sense that Rhodes was tough enough that he just didn’t fold up with the first hard shot landed. That toughness gave Alvarez plenty of opportunity to try out didn’t combinations, and methods of attack. He mixed up his punches extremely well, with the exception of any kind of impressive jab. (He still needs one.) He went to the body often, and with hard shots. He went up the middle and around the side of Rhodes’ gloves, and he used three four and five punch combinations.
This night was probably most disappointing for unofficial score-keeper Harold Lederman. Harold was slotted to sit in for Max Kellerman during the semi-main event between Adrien Broner and Jason Litzau. Unfortunately for Harold, about all he got a chance to do was make a few pre-fight remarks about the two fighters. That was because Broner soon figured out Litzau’s style, and quickly moved in and pulverized “The American Boy” before the first round ended.
The fight started out with both fighters exercising a lot of caution. They kept at a distance, and neither appeared eager to lead. Both were extending their lefts as “feelers”, but no real jabs or hard rights were attemted until Jason finally fired off a two punch combination, with the right going to the body. It was blocked by Broner’s elbow. Jason did try to quickly move forward and close the distance, but Broner easily moved out of range and danger. Then Broner seemed to test the waters with a couple of lead rights. He seemed to be looking more for a reaction from Litzau than fully committing to the punch yet.
Then as the round was drawing to a close, Broner exploded with an attack, backing Litzau up against the ropes. Jason reverted back to old (bad) habits. He mistakenly tried to lean back away from or to roll with the shots. The ropes prevented him from doing so. Instead of pulling his guard in tight, he extended his left up and out. Broner stepped inside and shot a clean straight right hand up the middle. The punch landed flush on the chin, and was followed by a left hook that also landed. Litzau was in big trouble, but he still didn’t get his guard up, or try to clinch.
Broner unleashed another combination, but most were missing, or were glancing off of Jason (rolled) shoulder. Jason tried to regain his balance by leaning forward. He wanted off the ropes, but Broner pushed him back and wouldn’t allow him to get any leaverage. At the same time he blocked Jason’s vision with elbows and gloves, and then shot in a powerful right uppercut that buckled Jason’s legs. A few more shots landed, and Referee Curtis Thrasher saw enough. He stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:58 of the first round. Broner walked away with the vacant WBC USNBC super featherweight title
For Jason Litzau, he undid all the good he had previously done for himself with the huge upset win over Celestino Caballero. Going into tonight’s fight, he was convinced this was going to be his night, and that he was a much smarter fighter than in the past. However, when Broner unleashed his fast hard attack, Jason reverted back to his bad habits. He moved straight back, and neglected to pull his guard in tight or to clinch when he got clipped. Broner’s speed and power were too much for him. For all his prefight claims, Jason proved to be no “Problem” for Broner.