Breaking down Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez: a Puerto Rico-Mexico battle

Latin Times is in Las Vegas and ready to bring you live round-by-round coverage of the anticipated middleweight championship fight between Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto and Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez.

Miguel Cotto may not be the fighter that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was. The middleweight bout, all of which are normally fought at 160 lbs. or 72 kgs, was held at a catchweight of 155 lbs or 70 kgs. “I was fully prepared for what Cotto was going to do in the ring, whether that was take a defense stance or be the aggressor”, he added.

Alvarez looked to land counter right hands, finding success in the second and third rounds, which prompted Cotto to cover up. After missing a number of huge hooks, he went to the body. By the 11th and 12th rounds with Cotto going for it all, he couldn’t dole out more than he got back.

Alvarez swung the momentum back his way in the seventh round.

Cotto is hoping to continue his rebirth under trainer Freddie Roach. But Alvarez’s heavier blows seemed to inflict more damage. 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.

Scores were 117-111, 119-109 and 118-110 for Alvarez.

According to the fight’s statistics, Cotto out-threw Alvarez, 629-484, but that was largely due to an inordinate number of jabs.

Canelo-Cotto: Should victor get shot at Gennady Golovkin?

After the win over Cotto, Alvarez stated in the ring during his post-fight interview that he would put the gloves on at that very moment to do battle with his friend and former sparring partner. “He’s a great champion, but it was my night”.

It is a real tough boxing rivalry between those two countries so there is a lot more on the line than just getting a victory for their own careers. This fight was for all of Mexico. “Everybody should know what to expect from Canelo and what kind of fight they can expect from me”. The co-main event features Japanese banger Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22 KOs) defending his WBC junior lightweight title against Francisco Vargas. It’s also a fight Alvarez needs badly if he is to become the superstar De La Hoya believes he will be and be a part of big fights in May and September next year.

Cotto already has earned a place in his nation’s storied boxing legacy by becoming the first Puerto Rican to win a world title in four different weight classes. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Rigondeaux, 100-90, 100-90, 97-93. The 18-year-old Tanajara (4-0, 3 KOs) is trained by Oxnard’s Robert Garcia.