anelo Alvarez has captured the middleweight championship with a compelling points decision over Miguel Cotto.
Alvarez outpointed the lineal champion 117-111, 119-109 and 116-110 to win by unanimous decision.
There were many close rounds early in the fight before Alvarez took over to decisively win rounds seven and eight.
In front of an adoring crowd at Mandalay Bay, Alvarez punches landed with more thunder and appeared to have more affect on Cotto than in reverse.
Cotto was unable to unleash his trademark left hook as freely as previous fights under tutelage of legendary trainer Freddie Roach.
The reaction from those watching live and on social media was that the fight was closer than the judge?s cards, leaving open the possibility of a rematch down the pike.
It was the most significant win in Alvarez?s career to date and improves his record to 46-1-1.
As the new champion of the division, Alvarez publicly welcomed the prospect of a unification bout with the consensus champ in the division, Gennady Golovkin.
The loss was Cotto?s first under the tutelage of Roach. His record worsens to 40-5.
Cotto declined a post-fight interview. Photo: Points decision … Canelo Alvarez connects with a lunge on Miguel Cotto. (Getty Images: Al Bello)
On the undercard, Francisco Vargas climbed up off the canvas for the first time in his career to keep his unbeaten record in tact with a ninth round TKO win over Takashi Miura.
In another fight-of-the-year contender, Vargas rocked Miura in the opening round, before tasting the mat in round four.
Vargas then survived a flurry of the punches before the bell to end the eighth round.
In a stunning momentum shift, Vargas landed repeated power punches in the next round, leading to the stoppage by referee Tony Weeks midway through the ninth.
Miura led on two of the three cards at the time of the stoppage.
The other card was 75-75 even after eight rounds.
Meanwhile, Guillermo Rigondeaux improved his record to 16-0 with a unanimous points victory over Drian Francisco.
Rigondeaux landed 46 per cent of his power punches.
His style is not for everyone. He backs up frequently and exchanges very little.
A pro-Mexican crowd accustomed to high-action boxing booed him continually throughout the fight.
A possible showdown with fellow dual Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko up at featherweight remains the only threat to Rigondeaux?s unbeaten record.
