Alfonso Gomez stands no chance against Saul Alvarez

By Boxing News - 07/16/2011 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (37-0-1, 27 KO’s) has picked out some more cannon fodder for his next fight in choosing fringe welterweight contender Alfonzo Gomez (23-4-2, 12 KO’s) as his next opponent on September 17th. The Alvarez-Gomez fight will be taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Gomez, 30, looks to be a step down from Alvarez’s last two victims Ryan Rhodes and Matthew Hatton. The all action Gomez can take some shots and deliver punches, but he doesn’t have the power or the boxing ability that Alvarez does. This is a huge mismatch.

What Gomez does bring is a little excitement due to his brawling style of fighting, which should have boxing fans at the Staples Center at the edge of their seats for the four or five rounds that this fight lasts. Gomez was mowed down in the past by Miguel Cotto in a 5th round stoppage in April 2008. Alvarez is even more powerful than Cotto. Do the math. Gomez will be hard pressed to last even five in this fight.

What makes me think it will last at least that long is that Alvarez often doesn’t fight with all out intensity against weak opposition. He’s comfortable with out-boxing his opponents by landing jabs and two to three punch combinations. However, when he really turns it on and flurries on his opponents for a sustained period of time, Alvarez is downright murderous. The thing he doesn’t do that enough and he allows his weaker opposition to stick around a lot longer than they normally would if he had the killer instinct.

That’s good in a way but also bad for his opponents, because it means that Alvarez is going to slowly pound them into submission rather than blasting them out in a more merciful manner. Gomez doesn’t have anything to hold Alvarez off. He can’t move like Rhodes and Hatton, and doesn’t hit as hard as Rhodes. He’s basically going to be just a punching bag for Alvarez on September 17th. Hopefully, Alvarez opens up with a flurry and gets Gomez out in the 1st or 2nd round to spare Gomez some of the punishment that he might be forced to absorb if Alvarez allows him to stick around.



Comments are closed.