By BN: Last Saturday night we seen Saul “Canelo” Alvarez win the WBC Middleweight championship of the world by 12 round unanimous decision over Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. First and foremost there should be nothing but respect towards Miguel Cotto as he put up a spirited effort and tried his best as he always does and fought like a warrior.
Canelo on the other hand was too much for Cotto and picked him apart by landing the cleaner, more accurate and heavier shots and consistently walked Cotto down over 12 rounds.
The two men started off feeling each other out with Cotto in my opinion winning the first 2 rounds then Canelo putting his foot on the gas and out-boxed, outfought and outsmarted Cotto and took his lineal/ring magazine title in the process along with the vacant WBC title as well.
Cotto soon realized he could not hurt Canelo, not even with his powerful left hook and quickly looked discouraged and tired by the middle rounds. Canelo showed a lot of improvement in the defense, speed and counter punching department but the main thing that stood out was the flashy defense Canelo displayed in making Cotto miss constantly while nailing Cotto with hooks and uppercuts.
Canelo a handful of times hurt the Puerto Rican star and in the 12th opened up a cut on his left eye and swelled Cotto’s right eye as well. Every ring observer, analyst, expert and website had Canelo winning handily with the scores ranging from 117-111, 116-112 and a few 115-113’s as well.
I myself scored it 116-112 due to the fact nothing Cotto landed could hurt nor throw Canelo off his gameplan and due to the fact Cotto lost just about in every department except footwork. Dan Rafael of ESPN and Steve Kim both respectively scored the fight 116-112 and 117-111. Cotto and his fanboys as usual after a loss are bitter, as is Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez who seems to have a huge problem with Canelo mania and just looks like a jealous and purely hostile man towards the red haired Mexican star.
As a European man from the UK, I’m a huge Canelo fan and don’t understand Marquez’s bitterness towards Canelo. But of course every fighter is open to criticism and can have their free speech and opinions but when you come out as sore hater and refuse to give credit, then you just look arrogant. Regardless Canelo did what he had to do and whipped Cotto despite the wide scoring, but still won handily and cleanly.
As for Cotto where does he go from here? I remember back in December 2013, when Cotto fought club fighter Delvin Rodriguez under Freddie Roach for the first time. Cotto dispatched Rodriguez in under 3 rounds and quickly the Cotto fans screamed “He’s back!” all over social media despite Cotto coming off two losses in a row to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout.
I’m sorry to say but in my opinion and several will agree with me, Cotto’s 3 wins in a row were manufactured wins and Cotto has been the same since the Trout loss with or without Freddie Roach. All respect to Cotto but let’s simply be honest and real here, Rodriguez was handpicked tune up, which is fair because Cotto was off a long layoff and two losses in a row.
As for the Martinez win, it’s my favorite Miguel Cotto performance, and he was counted out by many due to the fact Martinez was more experienced in that weight class and was the bigger man. But everyone failed to realize Martinez got a gift over my fellow Brit and also good friend Martin Murray in his native Argentina.
Not only that Martinez then had multiple knee surgeries and was coming off a long layoff as well. He was easy pickings for anyone who would’ve decided to fight him post-Martin Murray. Coming in the Cotto fight Martinez noticeably looked awkward and and shaky in the first round with Cotto and he obviously couldn’t bend his knees properly. None of this is Cottos fault he did what he had to do and impressively dropped and forced Martinez’s corner to stop the fight in 9 rounds.
Martinez at the time, like Cotto today was done. Then comes Cotto’s first defense of the Middleweight crown at a catch-weight of 157 vs Australian Daniel Geale. If anyone watched the weigh in you would’ve seen how thin and ill Geale looked trying to drop the extra 3 pounds Cotto’s team had implemented. Cotto like the the two before, dropped and stopped Geale impressively and a showdown with Canelo loomed. So what happens when Cotto fought a non drained, non injured, non C level fighter? He lost and lost clearly which further proves Cotto’s last 3 wins were manufactured and a carefully paved road.
With or without Freddie Roach, Cotto would’ve beat all 3 of those opponents easily under those certain circumstances. Do you really believe the Cotto under Mr. Roach would’ve beaten, let’s say Erislandy Lara, a rematch with Trout or top healthy 154 lb contender that easily? I think not and it’s the cold-hearted truth. Cotto now should move back down to 154 and maybe have a farewell fight or even try and capture one more title, as he has no business being at middleweight and certainly has no business fighting middleweights.
He should forget a Canelo rematch if he’s thinking of one as I think he’d be stopped and battered even worse next time around. Cotto just doesn’t have the power or size to beat Canelo and never did. But now it’s either back to 154b lbs or retire as Mr. Cotto has already paid his dues and is a first ballot hall of famer.
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