Juan Alejandro Saucedo Ortiz (born June 24, 1994) is a Mexican-born American former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 2011 to 2020. who challenged for the
WBO light welterweight title in 2018. At regional level he held the
WBO-
NABO and WBO International light welterweight titles between 2017 and 2018.
Professional career
Saucedo made his professional debut on November 19, 2011, scoring a first-round
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
(TKO) victory over Cedric Sheppard at the
Reliant Arena
The NRG Arena (formerly the Astroarena and Reliant Arena), is a 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) sports center in NRG Park, in Houston, Texas, USA.
Building format
The main partition on the first floor is the "Arena Proper", a 24,000 gross squar ...
in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
After compiling a record of 25–0 (15 KOs) he faced Gustavo David Vittori for the vacant
WBA-
NABA (USA) and
WBO-
NABO light welterweight titles on November 11, 2017, at the
Save Mart Center
Save Mart Center at Fresno State is a multi-purpose arena, on the campus of California State University, Fresno (Fresno State), located in Fresno, California. An open house was held for the community on November 5, 2003, with the official ribbon ...
in
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
. After suffering a cut above his left eye from an accidental clash of heads in the second round, Saucedo upped the pressure in the third to score three knockdowns; left hooks twice sent Vittori to the canvas on one knee, with the end coming after another left hook sent him crashing to the canvas, prompting the referee to wave off the fight and award Saucedo the WBA and WBO regional titles via third-round
knockout (KO). He defended the titles in his next fight, facing Abner López on March 10, 2018, at the
StubHub Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...
in
Carson, California. In a closely contested fight Saucedo retained his titles with a seventh-round KO after dropping López with a left hook to the body.
For his next fight he dropped the WBO-NABO title in an attempt to add the vacant WBO International title to his collection, facing
Lenny Zappavigna on June 30, 2018, at the
Chesapeake Energy Arena
Paycom Center (originally known as the Ford Center from 2002 to 2010, Oklahoma City Arena from 2010 to 2011, and Chesapeake Energy Arena from 2011 to 2021) is an arena located in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It opened in 200 ...
in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
. During a gruelling and bloody fight in which both men received cuts – Saucedo over his left eye and Zappavigna over both – Saucedo scored a knockdown in the third round en route to a seventh-round TKO after Zappavigna's
corner
Corner may refer to:
People
*Corner (surname)
* House of Cornaro, a noble Venetian family (''Corner'' in Venetian dialect)
Places
*Corner, Alabama, a community in the United States
*Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia
*Corner River, a tributary of ...
threw in the towel with 29 seconds left of the round. At the time of the stoppage Saucedo was ahead on the scorecards, with two judges scoring the bout 59–54 while the third scored it 58–55.
Following his win over Zappavigna, Saucedo became the
mandatory challenger for the
WBO light welterweight champion
This is a list of WBO world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Organization (WBO). The WBO is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and has awarded world championships in 17 different wei ...
,
Maurice Hooker
Maurice Dewayne Hooker (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional boxer who held the WBO light welterweight title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged for the WBC light welterweight title in 2019. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the worl ...
. The pair squared off on November 16, 2018, at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Both fighters started the bout with intent; Saucedo moving forward with aggression as Hooker remained on the outside to box at range. Saucedo scored a heavy knockdown in round two, knocking the champion to the canvas with a right hand. Hooker rose to his feet but was visibly hurt, allowing Saucedo to pound away with right hands and uppercuts, leaving the champion with a bloodied nose at the end of the round. Hooker recovered from the knockdown in the next round, sticking behind his trademark jab and landing punches as Saucedo tried to get on the inside. Saucedo found success in the fifth round as he backed the champion onto the ropes, switching his attacks from head to body. Hooker fired back in the final seconds of the round to knock Saucedo off balance. Hooker upped the pressure in the sixth, landing clean punches which began to mark Saucedo's face, causing swelling to his left eye. The pressure continued in the seventh; Hooker landed a right hand which sent Saucedo stumbling into the ropes, prompting referee Mark Nelson to rule it a knockdown and initiate a
standing eight count as he deemed the ropes kept Saucedo on his feet. Following Nelson's count, Saucedo was met with a flurry of punches which sent him stumbling across the ring, prompting Nelson to wave off the fight, awarding Hooker a seventh-round TKO victory. At the time of the stoppage Saucedo was losing on the scorecards with two judges scoring the bout 57–56 and the third scoring it 58–55, all in favour of Hooker. According to
CompuBox
CompuBox is the name of a computerized punches scoring system run by two operators. CompuBox is used in boxing matches around the world.
Background
The system is based on a computer program, originally named FightStat, developed by Jon Gibbs in ...
stats, Saucedo landed 133 out of 486 (27%) punches and Hooker landed 174 out of 509 (34%).
After a year out of the ring he came back in November 2019 to defeat
Rod Salka via first-round KO in a scheduled eight-round bout.
Professional boxing record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saucedo, Alex
Living people
1994 births
American male boxers
Boxers from Chihuahua (state)
Light-welterweight boxers
Welterweight boxers