Alex Saucedo tunes up Sonny Fredrickson in UD victory
Super lightweights Alex Saucedo and Sonny Fredrickson let their hands go in an action fight that featured an abundance of power punches.
Super lightweight boxer Alex Saucedo unveiled a new, more technical, and defensively sound style against the rangy Sonny Fredrickson on Tuesday, June 30, as the Top Rank on ESPN main event. Saucedo showed a lot of improvement, but the slugger emerged at times.
Saucedo (30-1, 19 KOs), 26, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has a history of participating in fan-pleasing fights. His 2018 bout against Lenny Zappavigna produced FanSided’s round of the year. He later duked it out with Maurice Hooker for a shot at the WBO title, but was hit too often and was stopped in the seventh round.
Saucedo has always been a talented fighter, but his offense-first mindset made him endure more punishment than required. After his first loss against Hooker, Saucedo decided he needed to make a change.
To improve his defense and footwork, Saucedo moved on from trainer Abel Sanchez and began working with Pedro Neme Jr. and Eddie Autry. In May, he told Seconds Out that “there were many, many, many things that I had been wanting to change in the last fights.”
He’s developing those changes, and he put his improvement on display against Fredrickson.
In round 1, Saucedo nullified Fredrickson’s 76-inch reach advantage and forced his way inside. He committed to the body early and didn’t deviate from his concentrated attack all night. Saucedo also demonstrated the power of his hooks to Fredrickson’s head.
Saucedo continued his onslaught into round 3. It didn’t look like Fredrickson was going to make it out of the round. The body punches zapped Fredrickson of energy, and he was a stationary target for Saucedo, who used him like a heavy bag. Fredrickson’s nose began to bleed, and he took many hooks to the head that buckled his legs. He made it to the bell and surprisingly regained a second wind in round 4.
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Alex Saucedo has improved on defense, but he still got lulled into trading blows with Sonny Fredrickson from time to time.
The next round, Fredrickson began to target Saucedo with right uppercuts. Saucedo became predictable and stopped presenting Fredrickson with angles, which made him easier to hit. He reverted to the KO puncher and left himself open while constantly trying to deliver a fight-ending shot.
Fredrickson (21-3, 14 KOs), 25, of Toledo, Ohio, fought better for the remainder of the bout, but Saucedo was too good. Saucedo dominated round 6 by mixing hooks low and high. He took his openings and made Fredrickson pay for his defensive liabilities and inactivity. From there on out, it was Saucedo’s fight to win.
Fredrickson continued to exert a solid effort, but he couldn’t sustain any momentum. Saucedo routinely trapped him on the ropes and beat Fredrickson’s body and head while he was frozen in the guard.
After the final bell, the judges returned scores of 99-91, 98-92, and 100-90, all for Saucedo. His performance wasn’t perfect, and he relapsed to his brawling ways at times, but his defense is superior to the 2018 version of Saucedo. He recognized that there’s still more to learn.
“I would say it was a C+, maybe,” said Saucedo during the postfight interview. “It was a good performance. I was able to get the rounds in. Get the experience. I felt a little better than before. My movement was better. Still got caught with some punches that I didn’t want to get caught with. We definitely got a lot of work to do still.”
Saucedo could use several more fights before challenging for a title. He has changed, but Saucedo needs to make sure that those corrections become permanent. He’s hitting his stride and produced another entertaining fight for the fans.
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