There were many bright moments in Golden Boy Promotions’ 200: Celebrate and Dominate, and I do intend to talk about them. But since one normally mentions the main event first, my job becomes hard right off the bat. You see, the main event was not the high spot of the evening, not even close.

For starters, with the house packed with 13,591 mostly Hispanic fans on this Mexican Independence Day weekend, it was interesting that when Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (22-1-2, 6 KO’s) was introduced there were not the overwhelming cheers that we had heard in earlier fights in support of their Mexican fighters. And along with that, Sugar Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KO’s) was not booed with all the vigor we had heard all night either. To be honest, I think Mosley won himself some supporters when he came out wearing trunks the colors of the Mexican flag.

There was not a lot of action in the opening rounds and what punches were landed were pretty insignificant with regard to any damage done to either fighter. Both men are known to be slow starters, and yes, it was slow. Problem was, we had to wait a long time for anything to happen. Let me stand corrected. The fans were awake enough to boo – loudly and often. That continued for the majority of the fight.

The first four or five rounds of the fight were consistent. Mora kept dancing and running around the ring and Mosley was doing the chasing. With Sergio’s awkward style, Shane had a hard time finding a target to hit. Along with that, both men were doing a lot of holding and clinching, which also continued throughout most of the fight.

In round five Mora suffered a cut over his right eye, which I believe was from a head butt. Ah, no harm, no foul.

The next round was much of the same which, unfortunately, was not much at all. Mora did get a good shot in here, but one out of six rounds doesn’t cut it, does it?

In the seventh round Sergio found his target a few more times. In the meanwhile, Mosley was still trying to get Mora to stand there and get involved, but he continued to have to try to hit that moving target. “It was hard to catch up with Sergio,” he said later. “I wanted to work the body a lot, but he has a very awkward style; his movements make it difficult.”

The tenth round started out just the same as all the rest and then, finally, with about a minute and a half left in the round, we saw some action. And it lasted until the end of the round!
Mora came out to fight in round 11. I didn’t know then if his corner told him he better get his butt in gear, but he finally became the aggressor. He got hit some in the process, don’t get me wrong, but at least he was throwing punches and connecting with a lot of them.

In the final round the action continued, much to the delight of the full house in attendance. But it seemed as if nobody was happy when the results were announced. The fight was scored 115-113 Mora, 116-112 Mosley, and 114-114, for a draw. Twelve long rounds for a draw.

At the press conference, Mora said that one thing surprised him about Mosley. “He’s strong. I didn’t know how strong he was.” He looked over his shoulder at De La Hoya and said, “I wanted Oscar to confirm that…he’s strong!” (No comment from Oscar!)

“I wanted to disrespect him and let the Latin Snake come out, but…he’s such a nice guy, like, damn! I wanted to hurt him, but that’s Sugar Shane Mosley, man. I thought I was winning the fight, and I thought I did enough.”

He explained the reason that he came out so strong in the last two rounds. “My brother Peter told me ‘Two more rounds and you’ve got this.’ When I heard that I said ‘There’s no way I’m going to lose these next two rounds, I’m going to close down like a champion and put the cherry on top.’

“It wasn’t enough though, I just don’t understand. I though I won this fight. It’s not a robbery, I just thought I won.”

While Mora continued to say he thought he won the fight, Mosley thought the decision was fair. “I thought I beat him, but I didn’t get the knockout, it didn’t come, so I got the draw. It is what it is. That’s what happens when you don’t knock the person out.”

Mosley was asked why he didn’t use more combinations. “It was hard to catch up with him. When a guy is constantly moving and never plants you can’t throw the combinations. I also needed to work the body a lot more, earlier, and a lot faster.”

Probably the quote that summed up the fight the best was when Shane was asked about a rematch. His response? “I don’t think a rematch is necessary.” Thank you, Shane!

Just have to mention here, and this adds nothing to the fight, that when Shane came out for the press conference he wore a suit and tie. He looked as classy as he sounded, and it was a very refreshing change to see. Presentation isn’t everything, but it sure doesn’t hurt!

Let’s move on to the really bright spots of the night, and as I said earlier, there were several.

The real star of the show in my mind was Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (34-0-26 KO’s). He is an amazing young fighter who faced off against veteran Carlos “Tata” Baldomir in a scheduled 10 round fight that was for the WBC Super Welterweight Silver Title.

The fight started just a bit slow (although if we had seen the main event first it would have been considered blazing), with each man cautiously measuring the other while throwing some punches at the same time. As the rounds progressed so did the action. Alvarez shows a lot of maturity for a newly-turned 20-year-old and got stronger with each passing round against the wily veteran that was Baldomir.

Saul proved that he can also take a punch when he was hurt in the fourth round by the right hand of Carlos, but just fought back.

It was in the sixth round when “Canelo” did something no one else had done – he stopped Baldomir! As they stood toe to toe trading punches a huge left hook tagged Carlos and he dropped like a rock. There was no need for the 10 count, as it was obvious that Baldomir was out. Alvarez walked out with that WBC Super Welterweight Silver Title!

What a fabulous career this red-headed wonder has already had, and it is only beginning. Oscar De La Hoya told us that there is a fight in the works for “Canelo” in Mexico on December 4th. “But he wants to keep fighting here in the States,” Oscar told us. “He wants to fight the big names, he wants to fight the Champion, but obviously we want to slow him down just a bit. He just turned 20 years old. We want to make sure he progresses the right way. He’s ready for the big names, but right now is not the time. We want him to get the experience, so when we do place him against the Mayweather’s and the Pacquiao’s he’s ready to win those fights.”

Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22 KO’s) against Vivian Harris (29-5-1, 19 KO’s) – who would be the most “Vicious”? Both men have the nickname, but only one lived up to it in this scheduled 10 round Welterweight fight.

The highly partisan crowd wanted blood immediately, and when they did not think they saw enough activity within the first 30 or 45 seconds they exercised their booing voices. They did not have to wait much longer. In the second round Ortiz dropped Harris three, yes three, times. That does not make one think that the fight will go the distance, does it?

Not hardly. With only 45 seconds into the third round a right hand by Victor found its target for the last time. As with the Alvarez fight, there really was no need to stand there and count; Harris was done, left in the same position as was Baldomir, face first on the canvas.

“I put my gloves on and went to work, it was a good night,” Ortiz said. “I thank Vivian for giving me the chance and a shot. He’s one of the only people that actually had the courage to give me a shot right now as the World champ. Any other World Champions out there in the 140 pound division – you know who you are! But thanks everybody.”

Daniel Ponce de Leon (40-2, 33 KO’s) had his way with Antonio Escalante (23-3, 15 KO’s), and it too only took three rounds of the scheduled 12. This fight was a WBO Featherweight Eliminator.

The first round has some good action, with round two escalating that. You could already tell that de Leon was waiting for the right time, and he did not have to wait long.

Round three spelled the end for Escalante and in a big way. A left and then a big right by Daniel put Antonio down and out at 2:40 of that round, and instead of counting, it left the referee signaling for the doctor.

“This was a very important fight,” de Leon later said. “It was an eliminator, I won it, I’m ready for a World title and I want to be a champion once again.”

Kaliesha West (13-1-2, 4 KO’s) boxed her way to history when she knocked out Angel Gladney (6-3-1, 5 KO’s) in the seventh round of a scheduled 10 and took home the WBO Bantamweight Title. This is the first time any fighter from Riverside County has won a title, as five others, all men, had tried and failed. Golden Boy Promotions and Staples Center took a huge step in promoting and putting this fight on such an important card.

The women showed their toughness and grit and the fight went back and forth until that seventh round. West began unleashing it all on Gladney to get the knockout at 59 seconds of the round.

Frankie Gomez (6-0, 6 KO’s) stopped Ricardo Calazada (2-3-1 KO) in this Welterweight contest that was scheduled for six. It only went three – what’s up with the third round?

Gomez knocked Calazada down early in the third, and as soon as Ricardo got up Frankie began a relentless attack. The referee seemed so intent on watching what was going on that he missed a California State Commissioner up on the ring apron telling him to stop the fight. Actually, if he was watching that closely he should have already figured that out. Be that as it may, even he finally saw enough, while at the same time Calazada buckled under the pressure at 1:06 of round three. Great showing for Gomez.

David Rodela (15-3-4, 6 KO’s) fought to a majority draw with Juan Manuel Montiel (6-3-2, 1 KO) in a Lightweight match that at least did go the distance. The scores were 59-55, 57-57, 57-57.

Keith Thurman (14-0, 13 KO’s) made sure he kept that streak going against his Junior Middleweight dance partner Quandray Robertson (15-10, 10 KO’s), when he put him down for good at 2:40 of round three out of a scheduled six.

Yet another win streak remained solid when Junior Welterweight Sharif Bogere (17-0, 11 KO’s) made quick work of Julian Rodriguez (17-20-4, 11 KO’s). It took him only a round and a half of the scheduled six for him to get the knockout at 1:43 of round two.

Finally, the fight that opened up the event was between Erick Arreola (1-1) and Missael Nunez (4-9-2), which saw Arreola victorious by majority decision with scores of 38-38, 40-36, 40-36 in the four round fight.

While there were certainly disappointments, well, maybe just one major one, the good way outdid the bad, in my opinion. Alvarez, Gomez, Ortiz, West, de Leon and Thurman all really came to the party and provided excitement and some good matches. Ya can’t have it all, right?

In all, for me a really fun night. Great food in the press room too – hey, don’t laugh, that’s really important!

And I have to give a big shout-out and thank you! You know who you are!

Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.