By: William Holmes
Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado , two talented boxers coming off losses went to battle tonight at the Forum in Inglewood, California for the right to challenge Manny Pacquiao for his WBO Welterweight Title.
Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank
Ukranian boxer and Wild Card trained Viktor Postol (25-0) took on Turkish boxer Selcuk Aydin (26-2) met in the junior welterweight to open tonight’s broadcast.
Aydin was shorter than Postol and was peppered from the outside by Postol on the outside. Aydin was able to connect with a few short jabs, but Postol’s jabs were crisper and heavier. A left hook from Aydin did wobble Postol near the end of the first.
In the second round Aydin opened up with a rising left hook that caught Postol off guard. He went for it a second time but barely missed. Postol turned the tide of the fight back in his favor with a two punch combination and combinations from the outside. He closed out the round strong and was landig the harder shots.
Postol continued to do well in the third round with body shots and combinations upstairs. He started to dominate the fight at this point and was starting to frustrate Aydin. Aydin’s face was bruised by the fourth round and was starting to mentally fade from the fight. Postol’s punches never stopped, and he was connecting with a very high connect rate by the sixth round.
Aydin was warned for a rabbit punch in the sixth round and that was his best offense of the night until the eighth round. Aydin was sent stumbling in the seventh round from a right uppercut by Postol.
Postol was hurt by Aydin in the eighth round from several body shots, but he quickly took control of the fight back in the ninth round. Aydin was asked by his corner before the start of the eleventh round if he was ok and they wouldn’t have been blamed if they stopped the fight, but Aydin went back out for the eleventh.
He was only met with more punishment from Postol and was violently finished by a right uppercut. As soon as he crashed to the mat the referee waived off the fight.
Postol remained undefeated with a knockout victory at 2:52 of the eleventh round.
Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado (34-2) met in the main event of the night in a venue where Marquez first made his name, and the crowd in attendance was heavily behind Marquez.
Alvarado looked a lot bigger than Marquez insidie the ring, but it was readily apparent that Alvarado was fighting tight. The crowd was loudly serenading Marquez and Marquez responded by landing straight right hands several times in the first.
Alvarado still looked tight in the second round and Marquez was banging left hooks off the guard of Alvarado. His punches were beginning to land flush this round and were visibly effecting Alvarado.
Marquez was landing his counter straight right hands in the third while Alvarado was missing with wild right hands. Marquez was starting to dominate Alvarado, but did cut him with a head butt in the third round.
Alvarado was coming forward with his hands up high in the fourth round and was able to connect with some hooks to the body. But Marquez did get through Alvarado’s guard several times and was showing incredible combinations.
Marquez was making the bout look easy in the fifth round and looked he was getting better as each round progressed. Marquez really let his hands go in the sixth round and snapped the head of Alvarado back several times.
Alvarado was having a decent eighth round until Marquez landed a straight right hand that sent Alvarado crashing through the ropes in an impressive knockdown. Alvarado was able to get back to his feet, but looked dazed and confused.
Marquez came out with a three punch combination in the ninth round and was banging punches against Alvarado’s face. Alvarado seemed to only be throwing punches at Marquez only after he got hit, but he was able to knock Marquez down with a straight right hand. Marquez however got back to his feet and finished the round strong.
Despite the knockdown Alvarado clearly needed a knockout to win the fight in the championship rounds, but Marquez was just too good for Alvarado. They both landed good punches in the final three rounds, but it was Marquez who was landing the cleaner and harder punches.
Unexplainably Alvarado did not press the pace in the final round. The final scores were 117-109, 117-109, and 119-108 for Marquez.