Litzau's big Upset of the Year

Celestino Caballero is a freak, a talented and powerful 5-foot-11 (180cm) junior featherweight who had dominated his division so thoroughly that some people had him on their Top 10 pound-for-pound lists.

And the Panamanian was coming off a near-shutout victory over then-unbeaten Daud Yordan in April after making his long-awaited move up to 126 pounds, at which he confidently planned to challenge the likes of Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

In the meantime, Caballero and his handlers agreed to face Jason Litzau at 130 pounds in a transitional fight because the capable Minnesotan probably wasn’t talented enough to pose a serious threat to Caballero at any weight, or so they thought.

In the fight, on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis card on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas, Caballero seemed to be sluggish, off his game – even disinterested at times – while Litzau clearly was inspired.

The underdog, gaining more and more confidence as the fight progressed, boxed his suddenly vulnerable foe on at least even terms and outworked him in most rounds as the crowd and the TV audience watched in amazement.