Alvarez's decision ends Mosley's Mexican dominance

LAS VEGAS -- Ex-titleholder Sugar Shane Mosley never had lost to an opponent from South of The Border during his career.

But on Saturday night, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Mosley messed with the wrong Mexican.

WBC junior middleweight beltholder Saul Alvarez.overcame a fourth-round cut over his left eye which bled profusely throughout what was largely a toe-to-toe battle with a man 19 years older on the way to a crowd-pleasing unanimous decision over Mosley.

Glenn Trowbridge and Jesse Reyes had it 119-109 each, while C.J. Ross had it 118-110. RingTV.com scored it 116-112 for Alvarez, 21, who improved to 40-0-1 with 29 knockouts and now has stoppage wins over the likes of former world titleholders Kermit Cintron and Carlos Baldomir.

"I tried to knock him out, he took a lot of punches but it didn't work," said Alvarez, who landed several hard left hooks and right hands to the head and body. "This is a huge fight for me, all of the experience, the cut – all of it was new."

The loss ended Mosley's streak of 21 wins over opponents of Mexican decent, including two each over Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas and another over Antonio Margarito. Mosley knocked out Vargas and Margarito.

Mosley (46-8-1, 39 KOs) slipped to 0-3-1 in last four bouts, including losses to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, respectively, in May of 2010 and May of last year.

"He was really good. He's very fast, and he can go a long way. When the kids start beating you up, it may be time to start promoting," said Mosley, whose 21-year-old son, Shane Mosley Jr., is the same age as Alvarez.

"It was great to hear the crowd cheering for me, but I didn't expect him to be that fast or that good. He's up there with the top. Mayweather's fast, Pacquiao and all of those guys. He's up there with them."

Alvarez-Mosley is part of an undercard headlined by WBC welterweight titleholder Mayweather pursuing his eighth title belt in five weight divisions against WBA junior middleweight beltholder Miguel Cotto.

Alvarez has expressed interest in facing the Mayweather-Cotto winner.

Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com