By Laz Izada: This Saturday night on HBO Boxing (on the undercard of Marquez vs. Katsidis) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada 27 year old super featherweight (130Lbs) Jason Litzau of Saint Paul, Minnesota defeated by split decision 34 year old Panamanian veteran former WBA Super Bantamweight and former IBF Super Bantamweight Champion Celestino Caballero.
Two judges had the bout for Litzau by scores of 97-93, 96-94, while one judge had it Caballero 94-96. The fight could have been a unanimous decision for Litzau which is ranked #3 by WBA, #6 by the WBC & the IBF, and #12 by the WBO at super featherweight (130Lbs). Litzau with this victory will definitely rise in the rankings looking for a title shot. Which I and others feel he deserves, in his last bout in April of this year he defeated Rocky Juarez by decision knocking him off the top 10 rankings.
Caballero and his camp which had been talking about a match up since October with WBA & IBF Featherweight (126Lbs) undefeated Champion Cuban star Yuriorkis Gamboa made the mistake of looking past Litzau a 13 to 1 point underdog.
Litzau “The American Boy” which is promoted by Roy Jones’s Jr’s Square Ring Promotions and is managed by Bob Vansyckle was inspired by his fiancée Eliza Middleton in the victory which he never backed down and gave Caballero the fight he was not anticipating, attacking and never letting down, gaining the victory.
Litzau’s manager of 8 years Bob Vansyckle told me that they were happy with the victory and “that credit must be given to Jason” just like the other outstanding fighters in the division. That Jason has proven himself fighting on HBO and Showtime and that he is ready for World Championship bouts.
The good thing about Litzau is that he is experienced with over 180 amateur bouts in his career that is what is needed in taking on the champions from Europe. He’s young 27, tall 5’ feet 10” inches has experience in coming out victorious, in big matches, like he did tonight against Caballero. Hopefully we’ll see him shooting for and succeeding in a title shot next year.