Canelo Alvarez overpowered Miguel Cotto to win the WBC World middleweight title by scores of 119-110, 118-110, and 117-111?
Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez (48-1-1, 45 KOs), from Juanacatl?n, Jalisco, Mexico, overpowered Miguel Cotto 40-5, 33 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, to win the WBC World middleweight title by scores of 119-110, 118-110, and 117-111 after 12 one-sided rounds.
Fighting out of the red corner in purple trunks with white trim, 25-year-old Canelo is too young, too strong, too big, and hit too hard for his game but outclassed opponent.
Cotto, fighting out of the black corner in pink trunks trimmed in white, gave it his all, but his all wasn?t nearly enough. Considering that he?s 35, Cotto didn?t embarrass himself. He acquitted himself nobly. But except for a few moments in a few rounds, he looked like a great fighter at the end of a great career.
Although the fight is already being called ?epic? and ?classic? and so on and so forth, no one is taking the time to explain what ?epic? and ?classic? mean, let alone what so on and so forth mean, in terms of the sweet science. ?Epic? and ?classic? fights are all over YouTube. They?re a rarity, however, on pay-per-view. But just as size matters, as evidenced by the fight between Canelo and Cotto, words matter as well, yet you might not know it by glancing at the headlines.
The bout wasn?t a mismatch, per se, but it was not competitive. Cotto won, at most, three of the 12 rounds. He moved well. He threw combinations. He had a game plan which he executed to the best of his ability, if not to perfection. But he wasn?t punching through Canelo. On the contrary, his punches, when they landed, seemed to bounce off Canelo.
Canelo isn?t encased in steel, but he might as well have been for all the effect Cotto?s punches had on the wunderkind from south of the border.
Despite his tender age and despite his many fights, Canelo continues to improve. He still has defensive liabilities and his footwork leaves something to be desired, but he?s more composed, his fighting is more coherent, and his trump card, then as now, is his power.
Cotto?s flurries were no match for Canelo?s booming punches. The Pride of Puerto Rico took everything Canelo had to offer, there?s no wilt in Miguel Cotto, but he was a junior middleweight fighting a super middle or light heavyweight and without a pistol, he had no chance of winning.
But boxing remains a subjective art. What one person sees another does not and vice-versa. In the fight between Canelo and Cotto, the judges saw it as a romp, and the final punch stats seem to confirm that view.
According to CompuBox, Cotto was the busier fighter. He landed 129 of 629 total punches thrown (21%) to 155 of 484 for Canelo (32%). And while boxing is a skill rather than a strength sport, there?s no denying the effect of power in a sport as intrinsically physical as the fight game. In the power punch department, where of course Canelo shined, he landed 118 of 298 (40%) to Cotto?s 75 of 255 (29%).
Canelo was younger, bigger, stronger, and he hit a lot harder.
He was also more effective.
There?s no need for a rematch. There?s also no need for Cotto to keep fighting. He has been a great champion. He has been a great ambassador for the sport. He has made a ton of money. There?s nothing left for Cotto to prove. He should get out now, with his head held high, before he gets seriously hurt. Cotto can thrive in retirement. He can no longer thrive in the ring.
