LAS VEGAS ? Miguel Cotto was one of the great fighters in the world over the last decade-and-a-half, much of the time while Canelo Alvarez was learning the trade.
On Saturday before a raucous crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Alvarez outworked Cotto to win the linear middleweight championshp with a workmanlike performance that, even better, set up a showdown with Gennady Golovkin.
?I?ll fight him right now,? an ebullient Alvarez said of Golovkin, the WBA, IBF and interim WBC champion after winning a unanimous decision by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111. Yahoo Sports had it 116-112 for Alvarez.
The bout wasn?t the classic that many fans were hoping to see. Cotto primarily stuck with his jab and circled the ring, looking for openings and attempting to avoid the younger man?s power. Alvarez didn?t do a great job of cutting off the ring, and he threw far too few jabs, but he was the one all night landing the clean, hard blows.
Cotto actually out-landed Alvarez, 629-484, but that was largely due to an inordinate number of jabs. Cotto threw 374 jabs to Alvarez?s 186, so he stockpiled the punches.
But Alvarez was raking him with lead right hands, uppercuts and hooks throughout the fight. CompuBox statistics had Alvarez connecting on 118 of 298 power shots, while Cotto landed just 75 of 255.
The biggest news out of the match was the potential for a super fight with Golovkin. Golovkin has been quickly gaining in popularity as he has been on a deadly streak of knockouts, though he hasn?t been able to get the big fight he craved.
The WBC ordered the winner of Saturday?s fight to face Golovkin, but several days before the fight, Cotto said he would not pay the sanction fee. That meant that should Cotto won, Golovkin would have automatically become the WBC champion, but he wouldn?t have had the fight he desired.
Earlier in the day in an interview with Yahoo Sports in his suite, Golovkin predicted an Alvarez win and was hopeful a fight could be made.
?I think so, I do,? Golovkin said. ?I think that?s how he is. He wants to fight.?
After one of his recent wins, in attempting to describe Alvarez as a good guy, Golovkin in broken English referred to Alvarez as a good boy. The fans loved it and he?s kept it up.
Now, the two may meet for middleweight supremacy in a bout that figures to be one of the best of 2016.
Alvarez didn?t have to extend himself too much to defeat Cotto, who at 35 gave up 10 years to the red-headed Mexican. Judge Dave Moretti gave Alvarez 11 of the 12 rounds, only seeing Cotto taking the fourth.
Burt Clements gave Cotto only the second and the ninth, while John McKaie gave the Puerto Rican great the first, fourth and sixth rounds.
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Miguel Cotto hits Canelo Alvarez during their WBC middleweight title bout. (AP)
Alvarez was the stronger fighter with the fresher legs and walked Cotto down. It was a credit to Cotto?s talent and toughness that he was never down or seriously in trouble, but Alvarez landed plenty of hard shots, particularly to the body.
The eighth round was probably the best of the fight, as Cotto came out aggressively and tried to trade with him. But Alvarez won most of the flurries in that round, which was reminiscent of the fight as a whole.
Golovkin, watching from ringside, grinned broadly as it ended. He knew that his dreams will soon come true.
?I?m ready for this, me and Canelo,? he said. ?Let?s do it.?
Soon enough, they will.
