Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs Alfonso Gomez

Photos by Gene Blevins/Hoganphotos

By Randy De La O

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Alfonso Gomez will be fighting on the undercard (sort of) tonight. Alvarez vs Gomez will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Their fight is the main event at that sight but on the HBO PPV their fight will be on the undercard, so to speak. I think it will be a good fight.

I happen to like both of these guys, though I do think at this point in his career, regardless of his age, "Canelo" is a bit overrated and over protected, but that's not his fault (yet). He still needs a lot of work, especially on defense but that should come with time.

Gomez is a guy you just can't help but like. I mean, how can you not root for Gomez? Now here is a guy that, more than anyone else, has made the most of his appearance on NBC's boxing reality show, "The Contender", a few years back, and here is a guy that could have griped to Kingdom Come when, after beating Peter Manfredo Jr on the fair and square, he was forced to fight him a second time after another contestant left the show and Manfredo was called back. Manfredo won the second fight. If they ended their fights with one and one, why was Manfredo allowed to fight Sergio Mora for the Contender title? The fair and honest thing to do would have been to make it two out of three. Gomez got screwed. I'm not saying Gomez would have beaten Mora but I do think he's the one that should have been given the chance. I'm digressing, I know, but I had to get that off my chest.

Gomez to be fair, is a limited fighter and most likely would have languished in obscurity if not for the "Contender", but it's his huge heart that has made me and just about everyone else a fan. He's my kind of fighter. He's always plugging away, always trying, always giving a 100%. I'm hoping that somewhere along the line, maybe tonight, he'll have a "Rocky" like moment in his career. He's fought and beat a few good guys, like the late Arturo Gotti, though to be fair to Gotti, he was at the end of a great career. He never fought again. He's stepped into the ring with Miguel Cotto, Jesus Soto Karass and Jose Luis Castillo. Castillo, like Gotti, was caught at the end of his career. Gomez is a deserving guy.

That's not to say that Canelo isn't a deserving guy. Like Gomez, I think he has his limitations but with the backing this guy has, he might as well have won a gold medal. His career is moving along like a juggernaut against mediocre opponents and he is not quite 100% deserving of his place in the upper echelon of boxing, someday maybe, just not yet. Still, his future looks bright.

Tonight, I'm throwing common sense, logic and conventional wisdom out the window and I'm going with my heart. It seems like the right thing to do! I'll be rooting for Gomez.

Saul Alvarez vs. Alfonso Gomez

Alfonso Gomez

Every once in a while a fighter comes along that just tugs at your heart. Alfonso Gomez is one of those fighters. You can't help pulling for him, and guys like him. Gomez is one of those regular Joes that make up the world of boxing. Nothing spectacular about him in the grand sense, in the way guys like Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard,Marvin Hagler, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sugar Shane Mosley or Oscar De La Hoya and so many others were. Right off the bat these guys were groomed for greatness (with the possible exception of Hagler), not that they didn't earn it or deserve it and they are all among my personal favorites, but a guy like Gomez might have spent his career in boxing obscurity if not for The Contender's television show.

Somehow he earned a spot on the show and he made the most of it. He must have known that this was his one shot. Here was Gomez, a welterweight really, in a middleweight competition. I don't think anyone really gave him any consideration. His chance came when he fought and beat Peter Manfredo, it came when he stepped up to fight Manfredo and said "If I can't beat the best than I don't deserve to be here". He proved that he did indeed belong there. He was the smallest guy on the show but he had the biggest heart and that is what carried the day for him. His "Rocky" like heart, and you can take your pick of Rockys; Marciano, Graziano or Balboa, is what got him here. The kid has heart and that is the boxing trait that I admire above any other.

I have no idea if Gomez is going to win his fight with Miguel Cotto tonight. I know that he is fighting one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world tonight. I know that in reality he is a big underdog and it would be a huge upset if he won. I know the odds are against him, just like they were against Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990, when he fought and destroyed Mike Tyson. I know that there are times when a huge heart just will not be denied. Maybe tonight will be one of those times.

I wish the kid luck tonight. I'll be pulling for him to fulfill his dream for himself and for the rest of us who never quite made it.