MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — 21-year-old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs) boldy declared he’s ready for the best by challenging Floyd Mayweather for a 2012 showdown after dominating Kermit Cintron (33-5-1, 28 KOs) last night (November 26).
Alvarez began the bout respecting Cintron’s old reputation as a puncher by circling and nullifying Cintron’s attempts to establish the jab with hard overhand rights. Alvarez’s punches were notably stronger and Cintron was constantly rattled and knocked off-balance by the young titlist’s offense. In the fourth, Alvarez weakened Cintron with left hooks to the body and scored a knockdown off three successive overhand rights. Cintron never fully recovered and only found brief reprieve in the fifth when he backed Alvarez off with a right cross. Backed to the ropes, a Canelo overhand right would bend Cintron over in submission and prompt referee Hector Afu to halt the contest with no protest from Cintron.
Cognizant of calls to continue stepping up his competition, Alvarez declared he’s ready for Mayweather, who he considers as boxing’s best Pound 4 Pound fighter.
“I think we did a very good job. Cintron was a very qualified fighter…I felt he did feel my power,” said Alvarez. “It was a matter of time… Next year we want the best. We want Mayweather. The money doesn’t matter. We want the best Pound 4 Pound!”
Adrien Broner (22-0, 18 KOs) made good on his promise to impress his hometown Cinncinati fans with a third round knockout of Martin Rodriguez (34-3-1, 19 KOs) to win the vacant WBO 130 pound title. After two competitive opening rounds that saw both men land clean blows, Broner staggered Rodriguez in the third with a counter right uppercut. Broner never allowed to his opponent to recover, hooking to the body and dropping Rodriguez with a left hook upstairs. Although conscious on the seat of his pants, the blow bloodied and snatched the will to fight out of Rodriguez as he took the 10 count.
A short right hook from Gary Russell emphatically ended Heriberto Ruiz’s night in the first round. Russell remains undefeated and improves to 19-0 with 11 KOs.
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If Bob Arum continues to dismiss the idea of putting Manny Pacquiao in with Floyd Mayweather, an Alvarez-Mayweather clash at 154 pounds would be an acceptable alternative. The undercard would need to be stacked since the main event winner would never be in question. Alvarez is talented, but Mayweather would give him a thorough boxing lesson. While intriguing, I doubt very much that Golden Boy will let their potential big star get dissected on Mayweather’s proposed May 5 date.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 