Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez beat Miguel Cotto on a unanimous points decision to win the WBC world middleweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday, reports Reuters.
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This might be a dance we see for a while, a lesser version of the lengthy dance between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
De La Hoya took it a step further.
Much like Mayweather, Alvarez dominated.
“Mayweather’s retired”, De La Hoya said, reports the LA Times. But in final boxing results tonight, the victor of the Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez fight was Canelo Alvarez (117-111, 119-109, 118-110).
Canelo Alvarez is the new king of the boxing world.
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. Another challenge has already emerged.
No sooner was the fight over than talk turned to a possible clash with Kazak world champion Gennady Golovkin, the unbeaten WBA, IBF and interim WBC champion, nicknamed GGG.
There is no denying the fact that Alvarez was mighty impressed with his fight.
De La Hoya wasn’t as definitive, which many boxing fans feared.
A few rest is deserved after Alvarez willingly engaged with one of the best boxers of the past decade.
But first is Alvarez who despite his age has a formidable record of 45 wins and just one loss (to Mayweather) with 32 knockouts.
He was just as willing to stand in the pocket and trade punches with the 35-year-old Cotto, creating a couple of moments in which almost everyone in the venue stood and cheered in awe.
As the fight went into the later rounds, Alvarez’s power wore down Cotto, who didn’t have enough gas in the tank to get a stoppage. Trainer Freddie Roach wasn’t too thrilled with the decision and said, “What bothered me was that the scoring was so [wide]”.
Canelo (meaning “Cinnamon”, a nickname he received owing to his red hair) landed 155 to Cotto’s 129 punches, but Cotto threw 629 punches to the former’s 484.
“I am not afraid of any fighter, but right now I am focused on Cotto”.
Immediately after the fight an emotional Alvarez who was being written off earlier said, “It’s an emotion I can’t put into words…I’m very happy, and much respect to Miguel Cotto”. “There’s no (expletive) way”.
ESPN boxing expert Dan Rafael claims that while Alvarez got the better of Cotto, the fight was closer than the scorecards suggested. Golovkin was watching the fight at ringside.
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Both fighters came out aggressive.
