Alex Saucedo earns title shot against Maurice Hooker

By Chris Williams: Unbeaten #1 WBO Alex Saucedo earned a title shot against WBO light welterweight champion Maurice Hooker last Saturday night in stopping #7 WBO Lenny Zappavigna in the 7th round in a bloody back and forth fight on ESPN at the Chesapeake Energy Area in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

After almost getting stopped in the 4th, the Top Rank promoted Saucedo put on the after burners and rolled to a 7th round stoppage in a Gatti-like performance that left many boxing fans doubtful about his future. It was nice that Saucedo got the win against the 30-year-old Zappavigna, but he looked so easy to hit that it’s unlikely that he’ll go far in the sport.

WBC light welterweight champion Jose Carlos Ramirez’s manager Rick Mirigian advised Saucedo to refrain from calling out Ramirez in the future.

Mirigian said this on his Twitter:

”Dear El Cholo Saucedo, please don’t call out RAMIREZ BOXING anymore after this performance, we actually like you, to quote Jay Z, “We love you even though you don’t love us, you’re like the drunk uncle in the family” 😂 @trboxing save him 🤐 I would fight Cholo after this ‍♂️”

The 24-year-old Saucedo is fun to watch, but after this performance against Zappavigna, he would be at great risk of getting hurt if he were to face Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, Sergey Lipinets, Josh Taylor or Kiryl Relikh. Saucedo is too easy to hit, and not close to being ready to mix it up with them.

Saucedo’s promoters at Top Rank need to steer him away from the talented fighters if they’re smart. If Saucedo is able to beat WBO 140lb champion Maurice Hooker, then Top Rank should have him milk the title for as long as they can by keeping him away from the good fighters because he’s not going to last more than a few rounds against guys like Prograis, Lipinets, Taylor and Ramirez.

Prograis wonders why Jose Ramirez didn’t enter the World Boxing Super Series 140lb tournament to compete against the best at light welterweight.

”How about you tell your fighter to enter into the tournament [WBSS] where all the best in the world are going,” Prograis said on his Twitter to Jose Ramirez’s promoter Mirgian.”He’s the only one with a belt that’s not entering. Hmmmm makes you wonder why not.”

Saucedo’s trainer Abel Sanchez has a lot of work to do for him to improve his game enough for him not to be destroyed by the top fighters in the division. Sanchez has to be a little concerned at how much trouble Zappavigna was able to give him. Sergey Lipinets, Ammeth Diaz and Miguel Vazquez did a better job beating Zappavigna than Saucedo did.

“I knew it was going to be difficult, we didn’t expect a cut,” Sanchez said to ESPN.com.“This guy gave Sergey Lipinets a difficult fight. The cut made it look ugly, but a good win for Alex. “Never happy with any of my fighters getting hit excessively but it is boxing, it happens, you get hit in this sport,” Sanchez continued, speaking on his Mexican-born hitter, who is just 24.”

Sanchez needs to be very concerned with Saucedo’s performance because he can’t continue to absorb punishment like he did against Zappavigna if he wants to last longer.