Boxing In Mexico: Cazares, Alvarez Win WBA Title Fights

Good night of fights south of the border with two shows taking place that each featured a thrilling WBA title bout.

WBA super fly king Hugo Fidel Cazares was in action for the third time this year and the 32 year old Los Mochis man didn’t disappoint fans that packed Centro de Convenciones in Tlalnepantla de Galeana.

Challenging Cazares was Peruvian veteran Alberto Rossel, reigning WBA Fedelatin flyweight titlist who brought a six bout win streak into the contest.

Cazares put his height advantage to good use early on, trying to catch the challenger on the way in with hard single shots from the outside. Rossel showed good defense but was taking punishment at times without ever getting to grips with the champion.

Cazares started to exert his greater skills and experience in the fourth frame, sending Rossel to the floor as the champion opened up his offensive arsenal.

Rossel tried to counteract the knockdown with increased effort, and while he was successful in spurts, the South American couldn’t put a dent in the champion, who seemed to get stronger as the rounds wore on.

Cazares downed Rossel again in the seventh before finishing the job by forcing a referee stoppage late in the ninth round as Rossel was gunned down by a heavy right hand bomb from the champion.

Former WBO light flyweight champ Cazares retains the WBA super flyweight trophy for the second time, running his record to 33-6-2 (24). Rossel drops to 24-8 (11).

The vacant WBA light middle title was fought over at Meson des los Deportes by combatants Nobuhiro Ishida of Japan and Mexico’s Rigoberto Alvarez.

Career super middle Alvarez had dropped a WBC middleweight title eliminator in January to Marco Antonio Rubio and was making his first appearance as a light middleweight.

Former Japanese titlist Ishida came into the bout as Interim WBA champion, having won a wide points decision a year ago against Marco Antonio Avendano and had not lost a contest since 2004.

Ishida takes the first two rounds behind a good stick and move strategy but by the fourth round, the pressure of Alvarez seems to rattle the visitor.

The Interim champion regains control by the sixth, making the Mexican slugger miss but Ishida can’t land anything significant. Alvarez manages to close the distance in the seventh and floors Ishida with a hard single power shot.

Ishida beats the count and takes charge over the next couple of frames as Alvarez is running low on energy after his big seventh round effort.

Alvarez gets his second wind over the final two sessions, pressuring Ishida and winning the rounds on sheer effort and activity.

When the scorecards are read, Alvarez is awarded a close split decision, 115-112, 114-113 and 113-114, allowing him to capture the vacant WBA light middleweight title and improving to 26-2 (19). Ishida falls to 22-6-2 (7).