Mora-Mosley Split Draw, Canelo KOs Baldomir

LOS ANGELES-Pomona?s Sugar Shane Mosley couldn?t pull the trigger enough against East L.A.?s tricky Sergio Mora in a split draw decision but Mexico?s Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez exploded a bomb against Carlos Baldomir for a knockout on Saturday.

With enough slipped punches and feints to fill the Staples Center, Mora and Mosley ultimately fought to a draw in front of more than 15,000 fans. But Alvarez stole the fans heart with his knockout victory.

Few punches were landed by Mora or Mosley who couldn?t find the range against each other?s herky jerky movements. In the last three rounds both landed sizzling uppercuts and counter left hooks but never enough to separate a winner according to the judges. The scores were Kermit Bayless 115-113 for Mora, David Denkin 116-112 for Mosley and Lou Moret 114-114 for a draw.

?We both fought hard it was a good fight,? said Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) who felt a draw was accurate. ?I couldn?t get my shots off.?

Mora felt he was winning despite his corner?s advice that the fight was very close.

?I should have listened to my corner,? said Mora (22-1-2, 6 KOs), who suffered a cut from a head butt in the fourth round. ?He threw really good punches. I thought I was winning.?

It was Mosley?s first draw.

Mexico?s newest hero Alvarez (34-0-1, 26 KOs) didn?t disappoint as he knocked out the formerly indestructible Carlos Baldomir (45-13-6, 14 KOs), a former world champion at 2:58 of the sixth round of a junior middleweight fight with a single left hook.

?I didn?t talk a lot, I just showed it,? said Alvarez who endured lots of ribbing from Argentina?s Baldomir days before the fight. ?This is for all of Mexico.?

Alvarez did what Zab Judah, Floyd Mayweather or Vernon Forrest could not do, that?s knock him out.

?His power really surprised me,? said Baldomir. ?This kid is the real deal.?

Alvarez said he wants to drop to the welterweight division to pursue his dream of a world title.

Other bouts

A battle for the right to be called ?Vicious? ended in a victory for Ventura?s ?Vicious? Victor Ortiz who floored Brooklyn?s ?Vicious? Vivian Harris three times in the second round and knocked him out in the third round with a right hook at 45 seconds.

Former world champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (40-2, 33 KOs) showed Antonio Escalante Jr. (23-3, 15 KOs) a big difference in experience and caught the Texan with a right hook for a knockout win at 2:40 of the third round of a featherweight bout. It was an elimination bout for the number one spot on the WBO rankings.

East Los Angeles star junior welterweight prospect Frankie ?Pitbull? Gomez (6-0, 6 KOs) took his time dissecting Las Vegas boxer Ricardo Calzada (2-3) for two rounds. But a Gomez left uppercut shook Calzada. Gomez followed him across the ring and fired a left hook that dropped the Las Vegas fighter. He survived, but then Gomez unleashed 12 unanswered blows and was dropped again with a left hook for a knockout at 1:06 of the third round.

Oxnard?s David Rodela (15-3-4) and Mexico City?s Juan Montiel (6-3-2) matched each other punch for punch and after six rounds the lightweight fight was ruled a majority draw.

Florida?s Keith Thurman (14-0, 13 KOs) was knocked down by the first punch of the fight by Quandary Robertson (15-10, 10 KOs), then proceeded to punish the Oregon boxer with three knockdowns all coming from the left hook. It was a left uppercut that finished Robertson at 2:40 of the third round of the junior middleweight bout.

Nevada?s Sharif Bogere (17-0, 11 KOs) used his speed to dominate Mexico?s Julian Rodriguez (17-20-4) in the less than two rounds it lasted. Bogere was able to pierce Rodriguez?s defense repeatedly. A left hook to the body and head floored Rodriguez and convinced referee Raul Caiz Sr. to stop the fight at 1:43 of the second round of the junior welterweight bout.