By Jim Dower: The much bigger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) used his huge size advantage over Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) to win a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant WBC middleweight title in their catch-weight fight at 155lbs at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judge’s scores were 117-111, 119-109, 118-110.
Canelo simply had too much size for the smaller Cotto. It’s unclear how much Canelo rehydrated for the fight, but he looked at a career high in terms of weight. Canelo looked at least 180 tonight.
Canelo burst into tears after the fight when he was given the victory. Cotto disappeared out the ring with his family without giving an interview.
After the fight, Canelo said “If you want me to fight him [Golovkin] now, I’ll put the gloves on and fight him now. He’s a great champion, but right now I’ll put the gloves on and fight him.”
While Canelo was saying that he’s interested in fighting Golovkin, he might not have been completely open with the HBO interviewer Max Kellerman in terms of failing to inform him and viewing audience under what conditions he would fight Golovkin. Canelo has said in the past weeks that he’d fight Golovkin, but only if he agrees to face him at a catch-weight of 155 pounds. That’s something that Kellerman failed to highlight in his question with Canelo, because if he’s still insisting on the catch-weight handicap for the fight, then there won’t be a fight. Golovkin isn’t going to drop down all the way to 155, which practically junior middleweight in order to fight Canelo. He’s going to want to fight at the full weight of 160lbs for the middleweight division.
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In a fight of the year candidate, unbeaten #1 WBC Francisco Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KOs) defeated WBC super featherweight champion Takashi Miura (29-3-2, 22 KOs) by an exciting 9th round knockout.
Vargas put Miura down in the 9th round. Vargas then pounded the badly hurt Miura unceasingly until referee Tony Weeks stepped in and halted the fight at 1:31 of the round. Miura’s face was badly swollen at the time of the stoppage. For his part, Vargas’ face was cut.
Vargas hurt Miura in the 1st round with a big left hand to the head. However, in the 4th round, Miura dropped Vargas with a right hand. Miura continued to get the better of Vargas in hurting him in the 8th round.
This was an exciting fight from start to finish. You have to wonder whether Vargas will be able to continue to fight at a high level after this fight because he took a lot of punishment in this fight. The same with Miura. He took a real pounding tonight.
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Unbeaten former WBA/WBO 122lb champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KOs) won an easy 10 round unanimous decision against an over-matched Drian Francisco (28-4-1, 22 KOs) to win the WBC International super bantamweight title.
The final judges’ scores were 97-93, 100-90, and 100-90. The referee that gave Francisco three rounds was really reaching to give him those rounds because it was a very one-sided fight from start to finish with the 35-year-old Rigondeaux easily winning every round of the contest.
The fans seemed to hate Rigondeaux’s fighting style, as they booed the lack of action pretty much from the 3rd round all the way to the 10th. The booing did little to cause Rigondeaux to want to get out of his cautious fighting style.
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Featherweight Ronny Rios (26-1, 10 KOs) outworked Jayson Velez (23-1-1, 16 KOs) win by a hard fought 10 round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC Silver featherweight title.
The final judges’ scores were 97-92, 95-94, and 96-93. Rios had a point deducted in the 5th round from a low blow.
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Unbeaten super featherweight Alberto Machado, (12-0, 10 KOs) destroyed Tyrone Luckey, (8-5-2, 6 KOs) by a 1st round knockout.
Machado dropped Luckey twice in the fight. The fight was then halted at 2:44 of the 1st round.
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Unbeaten super flyweight Jose Martinez (16-0, 11 KOs) stayed undefeated with an eight round unanimous decision over Oscar Mojica (8-1, 1 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 78-74, 78-74 and 78-74.
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2012 Chinese heavyweight Olympian Zhang Zhilei (6-0, 3 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a four round unanimous decision win over the game Juan Goode (6-3, 5 KOs).
The final judges’ scores were 38-37, 38-37 and 38-37. Goode came into the fight as just a body for the 6’6″ Zhilei, but he proved to be a highly competitive opponent. Goode put Zhilei down in the 4th round with a right to the head. Zhilei was able to make it back to his feet, but he looked shaken from the shot.
This fight makes you wonder whether Zhilei is going to develop into one of the top heavyweights in the division. When he first turned pro, it was thought that Zhilei had the talent to be a good heavyweight. But after tonight, it’s questionable whether he has the talent to be one of the top guys in the heavyweight division. Zhilei might have a chin problem. At 32, he’s not young and doesn’t have a lot of time to develop like other heavyweights.
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Unbeaten lightweight prospect Hector Tanajara Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) defeated Jose Naranjo (3-2-1, 1 KO) by a 1st round knockout. Tanajara Jr. landed a big shot to the midsection that put Naranjo down on the canvas. The referee then stopped the fight at 2:10 of the round.
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