Saturday Global Boxing Results: Canelo destroys Cuello, Viloria defeats Soto, Donaire tops Marquez

Guadalajara, Mexico

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez TKO6 Luciano Cuello - Alvarez put on a spectacular performance in front of a huge crowd in Guadalajara to show us why he's one of the premier prospects in all of boxing.  Cuello was known as a sturdy guy - he'd never been down, and he fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pretty evenly for 10 rounds.  Canelo showed the difference in class between him and that other "prospect" and picked up an interim title in the process.

From start to finish, this was a bloodbath.  From the start, Alvarez was landing hard jabs, one of which scored a knockdown in the first round.  In the second round, he added combination punching to his repertoire, including a killer left hook to the body that resonated in the arena every time he landed it.  He scored another knockdown early in the round, and from that point on in the fight, it was survival mode for Cuello.  It was target practice for Alvarez for the next few rounds - he was poised and picked his shots carefully, but when he did throw them, they landed and they landed hard.  Cuello had a badly broken nose and was becoming a bloody mess. Finally, in the sixth round, Cuello went for broke and fought offensively for the first time in the fight.  While he landed some punches with his first flurry, Canelo timed him with counters on the next two, and after landing a couple more thudding left hooks to the body, the referee stopped the fight.

Tomoki Kameda UD10 Arturo Camargo - The youngest of the Kameda brothers, who has fought almost exclusively in Mexico, moved to 15-0 and picked up a minor title.  Both of his older brothers became titlists, and some think he's the most talented of the three, so he's someone to keep an eye on.  Since he's based out of Mexico rather than Japan, it's more likely that he'll get TV time in the U.S.

Manila, Philippines

Brian Viloria SD10 Omar Soto - Viloria once again looked flat in his move up to flyweight, barely doing enough to beat former title challenger Soto. Viloria stated that he was having concentration problems during the fight, which has been a recurring problem during his career, but he turned it on in the 10th and final round to secure the victory. This was Viloria's first fight back since losing to Carlos Tamara.  Viloria always had the talent and the skills, but frequent mental lapses and occasional inability to pull the trigger had caused him to look mediocre in a number of fights, including upsets by Omar Nino and Edgar Sosa. In his fight of the year candidate against Ulises Solis, it looked like Viloria had finally put it all together, but it may turn out that was just the fight of his life.  

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Juan Manuel Lopez TKO2 Bernabe Concepcion - Our complete write up of the bout is here.  

Nonito Donaire TKO8 Tyson Marquez - In what has to be one of the more boneheaded training moves I can think of, Donaire trained for the entire fight as a southpaw, and was committed to fighting the entire fight as a southpaw, despite his short left hook always having been his best weapon.  As a southpaw, Donaire was making a lot of mistakes - leaning in, squaring up, fighting short - and the crude Marquez was able to take advantage with lots of hard counters and other shots that snapped Donaire's head back.  Through four rounds, press row actually had Marquez leading.  Finally, in the fifth round, Donaire switched back to orthodox and suddenly started dominating a fight he was supposed to dominate.  He knocked down Marquez in the sixth and the eighth, and the latter time, Marquez's corner stopped the fight in an effort to save their 21-year old fighter.  Donaire said he was fighting southpaw because he "wanted to challenge himself".  How's this - actually fight live opponents.  That would be much more challenging.  Facing any of Top Rank's top guys at 118 or 122 would be a start.  

Jonathan Oquendo KO9 Eden Sonsona - 21 year old Sonsona had been on a decent streak before this bout, but as Bob Arum was trying to build him into the next Filipino he could foist upon us on Pinoy Power cards, he ran into this roadblock.  Sonsona won most of the rounds early, but ran out of gas and Oquendo was able to catch up to him late in the foul-marred affair.  Sonsona's trainer Buboy Fernandez complained after the fight that his fighter had been drained by repeated uncalled lowblows.  This is probably Oquendo's best win, and he's rattled off a streak of decent wins since getting shellacked by Juan Manuel Lopez a few years back.

Victor Bisbal KO1 David Whittom - Well, I think we've finally found Whittom's limit.  The tatooed Canadian is a natural at light heavyweight and known for a tough fight.  His last two fights came at heavyweight, and he was knocked out early in both.

Poughkeepsie, NY

Zack Page UD8 Kevin McBride - So this is probably how it ends for the 'conqueror of Tyson'.  Page was a last minute replacement, and maintains his reputation as the guy with the most deceiving record in all of boxing. Officially, he's 21-29-2, but he has wins over McNeely, Cisse Salif, Lou Del Valle, Jeremy Bates, Sebastian Koeber (first loss for the 19-0 prospect), Gene Hill (first loss for the 16-0 prospect), and Kasim Howard (first loss for the former FNF darling), plus a draw with Jason Gavern (who just drew with Jonathon Banks).  In those 29 losses, he's been knocked out just twice, and many of those came on a week's notice or less, and several of them (such as bouts with Dominick Guinn and Michael Marrone) were robberies of the 'he's supposed to lose' variety.  

Fairfax, Virginia

Jimmy Lange TKO2 Jimmy LeBlanc - The former Contender contestant had turned himself into a local draw in the Northern Virginia area, but he lost his last fight against Chase Shields.  He got back on the winning track against journeyman LeBlanc, knocking him down three times in the third round to earn the win.

DeMarcus Corley TKO4 Damian Fuller - By the sound of it, former titlist Corley struggled at times, but jumped all over Fuller, a competent southpaw lightweight who owns a win over Matt Zegan, in the fourth to force a stoppage. Corley is pretty close to the end of the line.  He's gone 8-11 since losing his title to Zab Judah, although a few of those were either close fights or outright robberies.  In his last fight, he was brutally knocked out by Freddy Hernandez.  Still, it seems he was back to his old tricks - check out the picture over at Queensbury Rules to see his crazy costume.