The governing body recently announced that the victor [Alvarez] of this November 21 bout would have 15 calendar days to decide their intention to fight the mandatory challenger in Golovkin or risk being stripped of the title. “He’s a great champion, but it was my night”.
Advertisement
Alvarez can afford to be picky, but not for long.
With the win, Canelo will regain the WBC and Ring Magazine world middleweight champion-titles he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr.in 2013.
One scenario would be for both boxers to fight other opponents in the spring – Alvarez has the Cinco de Mayo weekend Mayweather always favored for his big pay-per-view fights already lined up – and then meet in September.
“I can take a page out of my mentor’s book, Mr. Bob Arum, and say, ‘Well you gotta let it marinate a bit.’ Or I can say, you know what, let’s go, let’s do it. Let me talk to my team, let me talk to Canelo, let me discuss how he’s feeling and – look, there’s fighters that go up in weight, conquer that division, and come back down, so we don’t know”. “This is a new era in our sport”.
Cotto had given up the WBC crown he won by beating Sergio Martinez previous year due to a row over sanctioning fees, meaning the title was on the line for Alvarez only. Cotto didn’t have the pop in his shots to put Alvarez in any type of danger.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 11,274 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Miguel Cotto fought a gallant fight but could not overcome the size, strength and youth of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. After handling the man 10 years his senior without any controversy, it seems unlikely that an aging Cotto would get the next shot at Alvarez.
Near the end of the second round, Alvarez started to figure Cotto out. “Fans will enjoy a real fight, another classic battle in the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry”. If you think Canelo boxes poorly while backing up, and he comes forward at will because he doesn’t feel his opponent’s punches, game over.
Miguel Cotto was a no-show at the post-fight press conference, so trainer Freddie Roach was the sole representative of Team Cotto.
“We thought it was much closer than the scorecard showed”, Roach said. A few speculate Gennady “Triple-G” Golovkin might be the next fight for him but De la Hoya wouldn’t confirm who would be the next competitor.
Alvarez banked the harder and more effective punches early on, but also got the better of Cotto in the 12th round.
Advertisement
But the pace increased in the eighth round as Cotto pressed the attack against the larger Alvarez, his jab setting up power punches against the Mexican, who responded with left hooks and combinations to keep Cotto at bay over the final rounds.
