Canelo Álvarez vs. Alfonso Gómez

Star Power Los Angeles
Date	17 September 2011
Location	Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
Title(s) on the line	WBC Super-Welterweight Championship
Tale of the tape
Saúl Álvarez Alfonso Gómez Nickname Canelo/Cinnamon Hometown Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, Jalisco, Mexico Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Pre-fight record 37–0-1 (27 KO) 23–4-2 (12 KO) Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Weight 153.6 152.6 Style orthodox orthodox Recognition WBC Super-Welterweight Champion
Result
Alvarez defeated Gomez By technical knockout.

Canelo Álvarez vs. Alfonso Gómez was a Light Middleweight fight for the WBC World title. The fight took place in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, United States on 17 September 2011^[1] on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz pay-per-view broadcast. The Mayweather-Ortiz fight took place at another location at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada taking place on the Mexican Independence weekend.^[2] Fans at Staples Center will be able to see the live feed from Las Vegas and also see Canelo Alvarez fight live that night, and the people in Las Vegas can see the live feed from the Canelo fight in the Staples Center.^[3]

National Anthem singers

Entrance performers

Following the showing of each of the main events on the night, fans in attendance will see two post-fight concerts performed by Los Tucanes de Tijuana and El Gran Silencio.^[4]

Background

After a successful defense against England's Ryan Rhodes in his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco,^[5] Alvarez had various options to who defend his world title against next.^[6] Former Contender Alfonso Gomez had recently stopped Calvin Green in two rounds, and sent out a challenge to the young champion soon after his victory at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in California. His plan was to contend at Welterweight unless he could get a shot at Canelo.^[7]

Undercard

Preliminary card

• Light Welterweight bout: Antonio Orozco vs. Fernando Rodriguez
  • Orozco defeated Rodrigruez by unanimous decision. (60-54 | 60-54 | 60-54)
• Welterweight bout: Hugo Centeno Jr. vs. Willie Walton
  • Centeno Jr. defeated Walton by unanimous decision. (40-35 | 39-36 | 39-36 )
• Super Welterweight bout: Ray Rivera vs. Rudy Gonzalez
  • Rivera defeated Gonzalez by knockout at 1:26 of the first round.
• Featherweight bout: Mikayl Arreola vs. Juan Sandoval
  • Arreola defeated Sandoval by unanimous decision. (58-55 | 58-55 | 57-56)

Result

Alvarez kept his 154-pound title belt, stopping Gomez at 2:36 of the sixth round. Alvarez knocked down Gomez with a compact left hook late in the first round as more of a balance knockdown while the round was slow up to that point. Gomez rallied in the next few rounds and hung in with the hard-punching Alvarez, outworking and outlanding him by a large margin and giving him problems with his in-and-out movement, his jab, and combination punching. Gomez looked to be winning from the 2nd round to the first half of the 5th round. Alvarez seemingly was coming on in the second half of the fifth round, and he stopped Gomez near the end of the 6th, with a nasty uppercut stunning Gomez and a follow-up flurry forcing the stoppage. Gomez thought referee Wayne Hedgpeth stopped the fight too soon, with Alvarez raining blows on Gomez for about six seconds, but not many getting through his defense.^[8] The general consensus (and HBO's take) was that the stoppage was very quick as well.

International broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Argentina	TyC Sports
Australia	Main Event
Belgium	Be Sport 1
Czech Republic	Sport 1
Denmark	TV 2 Sport
Europe	Eurosport
France	Canal+ Sport
Hungary	Sport 1
Iceland	Stöð 2 Sport
Japan	WOWOW
Malaysia	Astro SuperSport
New Zealand	Sky
Philippines	Solar Sports
Poland	Polsat Sport
Portugal	Sport TV
Russia	NTV Plus
Spain	Digital+
Sweden	TV10
South Africa	SuperSport
United Kingdom	Primetime
United States	HBO PPV

References