A stipulation that allowed the fight to happen was that the victor had 15 days after the fight to begin negotiations with Gennady Golovkin, the WBC’s mandatory No. 1 contender and holder of the World Boxing Assn. and worldwide Boxing Federation middleweight belts. We didnt lose the fight by that much, said the seven-times trainer of the year. It means Canelo has to win his matches for his fans. But a fighter that is 35 years old, his prime has ended.
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Miguel Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez takes place on Saturday night in a bout that promises to be a spectacular one, and is the kind of fight boxing needs more of.
In the eighth Cotto abandoned his measured strategy and made a stand in the center of the ring, trading hellfire with the challenger and whipping the crowd of 11,274 into a frenzy.
“We knew going into this fight that it would be a hard journey, but I feel that I was the faster and stronger fighter tonight”, Alvarez said. Canelo is willing to fight anyone.
Undefeated junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux won in an uneventful fight against Drian Francisco, but Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura brought the crowd back with a brutal slugfest that left both fighters bloodied and in a Vargas knockout win that served as an rousing prelude to the highly anticipated main event. “He is a friend of mine”.
When asked about the possibility of a fight with Golovkin, Canelo said,”With all due respect, if he wants to fight right now I’ll put the gloves on and fight him”.
“I’m ready for this, me and Canelo”, Golovkin, who was ringside, said after the fight. “He did throw a few body punches at me that hurt, but they weren’t significant enough for me to stop pressuring him and doing what I needed to do to secure this victory”. While he lost to the former, he remains grateful for the lessons he learned in its aftermath. That added experience was evident on Saturday night, when Canelo boxed more effectively to maintain the role of aggressor throughout the contest. However, he was also cautious not to give the veteran fighter any unnecessary openings to work with. Canelo will wear purple shorts and Cotto wears black trunks.
Nevertheless, a loss is a loss and it is now time to look on what’s next for both fighters. The 160-pound title he won by beating Cotto comes with strings attached a mandate by the WBC for him to fight his fellow middleweight champion in a unification bout. Test, passed. Canelo was brilliant, patiently walking Cotto down, pounding him with power shots and showcasing the kind of conditioning any star fighter needs to fight at the highest level.
“No matter what I have to do on November 21 to beat Canelo, I am going to do because I prepared myself for war”, said Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) at the final presser.
Cotto, however, was shocked by the decision.
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. Those two months are traditionally known as the biggest months for boxing, and have generally been reserved for Mayweather showcases. “If we do a fight, it’s going to be at my weight class”. “It was a very competitive fight”. Of course. Absolutely. It is not a question.
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The fight closed with Canelo and Cotto trading shots in the middle of the ring. “That’s who he is”. “Possibly I would have retired from boxing three years ago if Freddie didn’t think I had something left”.
