(Photo credit: Naoki Fakoda) By John F. McKenna (McJack): In a fight that was far more competitive than many boxing observers, including this writer, expected new WBA light middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) won a hard fought battle against former champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) Saturday night at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
“Money” Mayweather used his superior speed and more accurate punches to build up an early lead over Cotto. But Miguel exhibited a great deal of determination in his attempt to hand Floyd his first ever defeat and take away his prized “0”.
In the middle rounds Cotto pressed the action and took the fight to Mayweather. In fact it appeared to some boxing pundits that Miguel was taking over the fight. And instead of Cotto being the fighter who was bloodied, it was “Pretty Boy” who came out of one of the exchanges with a bloodied nose. After one exchange in the 8th round Mayweather shook his head no, as if to say that Miguel’s punches were not bothering him. Usually the opposite is true however, when a fighter feels the need to play to the crowd to indicate that his opponent’s punches are not hurting him.
Floyd’s trainer Roger Mayweather told his nephew after the close of the 6th round that Miguel was tired and ready to quit. Cotto proved Roger wrong by turning the fight into a real dogfight as the bout progressed. To his credit Miguel was relentless in his pursuit of Mayweather, even when Floyd succeeded in landing telling shots.
Mayweather showed his class by turning up the heat in the championship rounds. Many fans thought that the fight was closer then the verdict rendered by the ringside judges. Two judges scored the fight 117-110, while the 3rd judge had it 118-110 all in Mayweather’s favor. Associated press also had Mayweather winning by a 116-112 margin.
The largely partisan Cotto crowd at the MGM Grand Arena lustily booed the decision awarding the fight to Mayweather. By his performance, Miguel demonstrated that he did not show up just to pick up his reported $8 million paycheck for the fight. “Money” reportedly received $32 million as his share of the proceeds for the bout.
Questions will surface and comparisons are bound to be made between Mayweather’s performance against Cotto Saturday night and that of Filipino Icon WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who fought Cotto in November 2009. “Pacman” was able to floor Miguel twice on his way to a twelve round TKO stoppage over him in November 2009.
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