Gallery: 1/17
Canelo Alvarez lifts the RING Magazine middleweight title by outpointing Miguel Cotto. (Getty)
Canelo Alvarez lifted the RING Magazine and the WBC middleweight titles on Saturday by outpointing Miguel Cotto at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After 12 rounds of exciting back-and-forth action, the judges handed out a unanimous decision to Alvarez, their scorecards reading 117-111, 119-109, 118-110, all for Canelo.
The story of the night was Canelo’s punching power. Despite both fighters landing relatively close to equal amount of shots (according to CompuBox, who had Canelo landing 155 out of 484 punches thrown and Cotto landing 129 out of 629), Canelo clearly had the strength advantage, and that was enough to earn him the lopsided decision.
“I felt very good,” said Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs) during his post-fight interview.”What I was trying to do was not to just land ten punches, but ten well-connected punches. And also not get hit by Cotto.”
Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) moved well throughout the encounter, using the ring to evade his stalking opponent and landing well with combinations and jabs. His stamina was in top form and his chin never let him down, taking heavy punishment at times from the young Mexican, but Cotto’s punches just did not have enough on them to earn Canelo or the judge’s respect.
Canelo stalked Cotto throughout effectively. He his left hook was landing well to the body and head, and his uppercuts where finding their targets from inside or from long range.
Check out this uppercut counter from Canelo:
CompuBox numbers had power shots at Cotto 40/145; Canelo 50/133. Jabs: Cotto 35/225; Canelo: 26/122.
Two-time former world champion and Mexican boxing icon, 25-year-old Canelo Alvarez, came into Saturday’s encounter having kayo’d tough guy James Kirkland, squeaked by Erislandy Lara, and demolished Alfredo Angulo since his only career defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013.
“I’m very happy, but much respect to Miguel Cotto,” said Canelo. “I will always admire him, he’s a great champion. But now it’s my era.”
Watch Canelo draw Cotto’s guard down to land with a straight right:
Miguel Cotto, 35 years old, the first Puerto Rican world champ in four different weight classes, had last been in action stopping Daniel Geale in June. Prior to the Geale fight Cotto had stopped middleweight legend Sergio Martinez in June of 2014 to lift the WBC World middleweight title. The former Olympian and future hall of famer has shared the ring with the biggest names in the sport today including Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Shane Mosely.
“This is a great victory for me,” said Canelo. “Not just for me, but for all of my country.”