HOUSTON – The Toyota Center undercard ended on a decisive note with impressive Oklahoma City welterweight prospect Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo beating down Utah opponent Eddie Cordova, assaulting him repeatedly with a left uppercut-right cross combination made famous by Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Saucedo (7-0, 5 KOs) whacked the outmatched Cordova (3-4-1, 1 KO) to the corner early in round 3 and stopped him at 2:14 of the same, remaining among promoter Top Rank’s very best prospects.
Victor Terrazas, a well-regarded Mexican featherweight contender, ended up in a tougher scrap than anticipated in the penultimate match of Saturday’s undercard, decisioning Californian Juan Ruiz by split-decision scores of 74-78, 78-74 and 79-73. Terrazas (35-2-20 KOs) had Ruiz (23-12, 7 KOs) outclassed but not outhustled, as Ruiz continually lowered his head and charged into Terrazas who at times seemed confounded by the task of keeping Ruiz off him, while boxing well at others.
Saturday’s last undercard match before the international television broadcast began featured Mexican welterweight Daniel Sandoval (30-2, 29 KOs) and awkward, buffoonish Texan Larry Smith (10-14, 6 KOs) in a six-round match that saw one man punch and the other clown around. Sandoval was the puncher and prevailed by unanimous decision scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 60-54, despite showing far less power than his record anticipated.
Lightweight Jose Felix Jr. did his Mexican hometown of Los Mochis proud in the fifth fight of Saturday’s undercard at Toyota Center. After spending a few rounds measuring his opponent, Bahamian Meachor Major (20-6-1, 17 KOs), Felix Jr. timed the slippery boxer leaning too far forward on the way in, clipped him with a left-hook lead, and hurt him badly enough to win by TKO at 2:23 of round 3.
Saul Rodriguez, a California super featherweight trained by Robert Garcia, had no trouble with Mexican Pablo Brates, in their four-round match. Rodriguez (8-0-1, 5 KOs) found Brates (2-5-1, 1 KO) with most every punch he threw, and despite being hit hard a few times himself, won each round by wide margins.
Saturday’s third fight, a six-round match between undefeated Houstonian Cedric Agnew (25-0, 13 KOs) and oft-defeated Mexican Alfredo Contreras (11-15-3, 4 KOs), a match that saw Agnew land numerous flush shots – and eat a few as well – ended with a wide decision for Agnew: 58-56, 60-54, and 59-55. Contreras, who hails from main-event fighter Jorge Arce’s hometown of Los Mochis, was entirely outclassed but managed to entertain throughout, raising questions about Agnew’s power.
Before that, in a four-round fight between Connecticut super bantamweight Tremaine Williams (5-0, 2 KOs) and Texas’ Rafael Casias (4-6), Williams held on to win a unanimous decision, 39-36 and 39-36 and 40-37, despite fading slightly in the final round.
Saturday’s card began with a four-round super welterweight match between California’s Sukhrab Shidaev (4-0, 2 KOs) and Texan Jose Trevino (1-7-1, 1 KO), a match that Shidaev won by knockout at 1:39 of round 3.
Opening bell rang on an empty Toyota Center at 5:15 PM local time.
