The Mexican’s brute strength was rewarded by the judges as they scored the fight in favour of Alvarez 117-111, 119-109, 118-110.
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The Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez fight was billed as the future of boxing, the entry of a new main event that could replace the existing Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacman. As the fight ended, a great show of respect by both fighters as they embraced.
The victory showcased just how much Alvarez, at 25, has improved with each fight. He brought me here from nothing. We felt we outscored Canelo. He compiled a 34-0 professional record with 31 TKOs and won his last 21 consecutive fights by knockout. It may have not have been the fight we expected, but it was a great display of boxing skill. By beating Cotto, Canelo is now the WBC middleweight champion. The WBC demanded $300,000, which Alvarez agreed to pay.
The WBC says negotiations must commence within 15 days.
Jay Z said it best, sometimes you gotta learn to live with regrets.
ESPN boxing expert Dan Rafael claims that while Alvarez got the better of Cotto, the fight was closer than the scorecards suggested.
“It is very interesting because there is the GGG fight and then there are other fights at 154 [pounds]”, De La Hoya said at the post-fight press conference. “Miguel’s defense was unbelievable”. “Mexico”, but it was Cotto who moved well and outboxed Alvarez. Cotto was out there trying to box him, and Canelo showed a lot of great movement and a lot of great combinations.
The real action started in the mid-rounds as both fighters traded punches. A cut above the left eye of Cotto in the final round was proof of battle.
Canelo Alvarez now elevates to 46 wins, 1 defeat, 1 draw, 32 knockouts, while Cotto reduces to 40 wins, 5 defeats, 33 knockouts. Alvarez continued to impose himself on Cotto, who backed away and looked a bit exhausted at the end of the round.
Cotto’s stamina was impressive. He was moving side to side and rarely staying in front of Alvarez, allowing him to land his right hand cleanly. The taller Zhang came out landing hard straight left hands to the head of Juan Goode early on. It seemed as though the fight was on the table, and they were fighting like it. After missing a number of huge hooks, he went to the body.
Cotto did not but he lost clearly and to two opponents, to Alvarez and to the calendar. But the WBC has mandated that the victor of Canelo-Cotto must fight Golovkin or surrender the belt.
Amateur boxing and professional boxing differ in many ways, but key among them in tonight’s showdown between Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was the way each differ from the other in scoring.
“If he wants to fight now, we’ll fight right now”, said Alvarez. While Cotto couldn’t seem to back Canelo down at any point, Alvarez could hurt Cotto, and did so a few times. His jabs were fast and kept Alvarez at bay many times when he needed to avoid punishment.
The typical reaction to a fight of this magnitude is to ficus on the victorious boxer, though in this case that would belie to wonderful performance of Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto. It was a give and take situation all throughout the fight with Alvarez getting on his targets with heavier punches.
“This fight will take Canelo to a whole new level”, said Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Alvarez.
“I have respect for him, but if we do fight it’s going to be at my [natural] weight class [of junior middleweight]. I am proud of him, proud of his simplicity to admit that we were once no one and now he is the middleweight champion”. “Get used to this right here – exciting fights and the fights fans want to see”.
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The bout wasn’t the classic that many fans were hoping to see.
