Mayweather vs. Cotto, Alvarez vs. Mosley and Weekend's Top Boxing Results

Everyone is excited for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto to touch gloves, but there are plenty of other intriguing fights through the weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Cotto's warrior's mentality may make him a worthy opponent for Mayweather, while you also have a rising star in Saul Alvarez looking to knock off Shane Mosley in the biggest fight of his career.

Beyond that, Robert Stieglitz and Nader Hamdan figure to treat us to a competitive, back-and-forth fight in Saturday's undercard.

Here's a rundown of the upcoming bouts at the MGM Grand. Results and commentary will be added once each fight concludes.

Rundown of Fights

Friday, May 4

Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Eduardo Lazcano

Eduardo Lazcano (24-2, 11 KOs) figures to be overmatched in this bout. He's lost to his two best opponents and his last two fights weren't particularly impressive given they featured foes with a combined 6-10 record.

Daniel Ponce De Leon, on other hand, has a 42-4 record with 35 knockouts. He held the WBO junior featherweight title from 2005 until 2008, then was off the radar for a bit. Then he came surging back against Antonio Escalante on the undercard of Shane Mosley versus Sergio Mora in 2010.

De Leon's experience and pure power figures to be too much for Lazcano, who will fight outside of Mexico for the first time on Friday.

Saturday, May 5

Chris John vs. Shoji Kimura

Chris John will be going for his 16th title defense on Saturday. Most of his opponents haven't been spectacular, but he did score victories against Derrick Gainer and Rocky Juarez. He also won via unanimous decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in 2006, although it was a controversial decision.

Shoki Kimura isn't a big threat. He's lost two of his last three fights and this will only be his second bout outside of Japan.

Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi

Ola Afolabi will be looking to avenge his loss to Marco Huck in December, a close victory via unanimous decision. 

Afolabi has improved significantly since then, winning his last five fights, and he figures to outpunch and outwork Huck in this bout. Huck does have the power advantage, however, and the fight may come down to whether or not the judges are impressed by Huck's power punches.

Robert Stieglitz vs. Nader Hamdan

Robert Stieglitz, the current WBO super middleweight champion, looks to defend his title for the sixth time on Saturday against Nader Hamdan. 

Hamdan, at 43-9-1, certainly should be a worthy contender for Stieglitz. Stieglitz has said as much, but Hamdan is still an underdog in this fight. Stieglitz is 43-2 and he's won his last 10 fights. He's on a roll and Hamdan likely won't be the man to bring him down.

Alexander Dimitrenko vs. Kubrat Pulev

Alexander Dimitrenko has more experience than Kubrat Pulev. He's also more skilled and has a clear size advantage. He's 32-1 with 21 knockouts and he should out-box Dimitrenko. Pulev could win if he goes for the knockout, but I would be surprised if he won. Pulev is 15-0, but I don't think he's in Dimitrenko's league just yet.    

Main Event: Miguel Cotto vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

It's hard to see Miguel Cotto winning this bout. If he presses the action, he could become victim to Mayweather's counterpunching, as so many have before. If he stays back, Mayweather is more skilled and can out-box him.

But Cotto is a warrior and I expect him to give the undefeated Mayweather a good fight, albeit in a loss.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Shane Mosley

You have to admire Shane Mosley for continuing to fight at an old age, but it's also sad to watch. He doesn't have the speed and power he once did, and his body can't take the beating it used to.

Saul Alvarez is widely considered to be a budding star. He is 39-0-1 and he's only 21 years old. He already has a lot of experience, which will help him against Mosley, and this is the biggest fight of his career.

Mosley is on the downslope, while Alvarez is rising. 

Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Eduardo Lazcano

Daniel Ponce De Leon (43-4) held the WBO junior featherweight title from 2005 until 2008. Eduardo Lazcano was 24-2, but his two losses came against his only decent competition.

That showed on Friday, when Ponce De Leon continued to wail on Lazcano, using a clear advantage in speed and power, and won via unanimous decision after the full 10 rounds. He pitched a shutout against Lazcano, 100-90.

De Leon was the more aggressive fighter from the start, and you could tell it wouldn't bode well for Lazcano right away. De Leon used a flurry of uppercuts, hooks and body shots to dismantle Lazcano round by round. Lazcano did well to fight until the end, but that's about all you could say about him. He was clearly outclassed on Friday night.

Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam vs. Max Bursak

Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam maintained his WBO interim middleweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Max Bursak on Friday evening.

The question now remains as to whether he'll get his chance at a unification bout against Dmitry Pirog, currently holding the WBO middleweight title.

Despite the fight being marred by constant clinching, N'Dam N'Jikam (27-0) controlled much of the match with his jab and superior movement. While he couldn't quite find the knockout punch in a dominant seventh round—and though Bursak made a late flurry—N'Dam N'Jikam was clearly the better fighter in this one.

Hopefully, a title shot against Pirog will be next on the docket for N'Dam N'Jikam.

Update by Timothy Rapp

Chris John vs. Shoji Kimura

The reign of Chris John continues.

The WBO featherweight champion defended his title for a 16th-consecutive time, easily winning a 12-round decision over challenger Shoji Kimura. John took the fight 117-110, 118-109, 118-109.

John was rarely in danger in this one, save a rocky seventh round that saw Kimura land several heavy blows. But in general, John clearly outclassed Kimura and it showed.

The question for John now is when he will face a more worthy contender and make those 16 defenses more meaningful. Kimura was another in a long line of solid but unspectacular opponents.

Update by Timothy Rapp

Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi

Marco Huck has defended his WBO cruiserweight title.

Huck and Ola Afolabi fought to a well-earned draw, giving it their all until the final bell.

Calling the twelfth round exciting would be an understatement, as the two fighters relentlessly swung at each other for the final three minutes of the contest.

Huck is continuing his rise to stardom and will eventually be in line for a massive pay day should he continue his entertaining fights. This fight was reminiscent of his battle with Alexander Povetkin on February 25.

This cruiserweight contest was scored 114-114, 115-113 (Huck) and 114-114.

Robert Stieglitz vs. Nader Hamdan

Robert Stieglitz has retained his WBO Super Middleweight title with a dull victory over Nader Hamdan.

Fighting out of his home country of Germany, Stieglitz won the fight via unanimous decision, 120-108, 117-111 and 117-111.

It was evident that Stieglitz lacked motivation in this fight, possibly because the 38-year-old Hamdan was plugged in as a replacement for the unbeaten George Groves who had to pull out of the fight due to an injury.

Stieglitz was clearly the superior boxer in this one, as he used his substantially faster hands to land numerous hooks to both sides of Hamdan's face. Stieglitz pounded the body early on, trying to use Hamdan's age against him, but that technique never panned out as the fight went the distance.

Stieglitz moves to 42-2-0 (23 KO) while Hamden falls to 43-10-1 (18 KO).

What's next for Stieglitz? Possibly a title defense against George Groves.

Alexander Dimitrenko vs. Kubrat Pulev

Kubrat Pulev overcame a weak start and defeated Alexander Dimitrenko to retain the IBF International Heavyweight title and win the vacant EBU Heavyweight title via an eleventh-round knockout.

This was Pulev's most exciting and important win as he finished the fight by knocking out a fighter who -prior to the fight - had just one blemish on his record.

Pulev had a bad start. It wasn't until the third round, when he caught Dimitrenko with a jab, that he gained momentum. 

In the fourth round he began connecting on multiple overhand rights and continued to meticulously pick apart Dimitrenko.

Once Dimitrenko's jaw began to hang, Pulev smelled blood in the water and eventually scored a knockdown that his challenger couldn't come back from.

Pulev solidified himself as one of the best European fighters in the heavyweight class. His record climbs to 16-0-0 (eight KO) while Dimitrenko falls to 32-2-0 (21 KO).

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Shane Mosley

“Sugar” Shane Mosley has done it time-and-time again. He’s won countless battles against great opponents. Unfortunately, he couldn’t beat father time in his fight tonight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

The audience chanted “Canelo” as Alvarez entered the ring and it was clear that Mosley was going to have a hard time against the 21-year-old fighter, despite the fact that the contest was much closer than most thought it would be.

Alvarez beat a man who is almost twice his age, and that age difference was evident throughout most of the fight. He clearly possessed greater quickness and hand power. The baby-faced, Mexican fighter toyed with Mosley in the war of attrition that was this boxing match and began to go to work in the second round, landing numerous upper cuts and hooks that visibly shook Mosley.

“Canelo” put on a show for the Las Vegas crowd, displaying his impressive arsenal of jabs, hooks, straights and uppercuts. Alvarez busted out any kind of punch that can be thrown in a boxing match.

Alvarez caught a head butt in the third round, opening up a cut that led to a stoppage.

Mosley did a nice job up ducking under Alvarez’s punches. Alvarez did a nice job of neutralizing Mosley’s ducking by throwing numerous uppercuts; furious, debilitating uppercuts.

Alvarez continued his dominance and retained the WBC Light Middleweight title 119-109, 118-110 and 119-109.

Alvarez improves his record to 40-0-1 (29 KO) while Mosley falls to 46-7-1 (39 KO).

Main Event: Miguel Cotto vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather has done it again. He’s beaten yet another formidable fighter and proved his dominance.

“Money” Mayweather defeated Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision to win the WBA (Super) Light Middleweight title.

Mayweather consistently used his left jab to set up his right hooks and uppercuts. Cotto lingered too close to Mayweather for the majority of the fight, allowing his challenger to methodically pick him apart.

Every time Cotto went on the offensive, Mayweather shut him down with his thunderous right fist.

It was all Mayweather, all the time. Even when Cotto caught “Money” with a string of punches, the 35-year-old fighter did not falter and continued to go at his opponent.

Cotto did everything he could to land some power shots, but Mayweather just kept rolling with the punches, keeping Cotto from getting enough distance to land the big shot.

It seemed as though Mayweather was playing with Cotto, allowing the 31-year-old Puerto Rican fighter to fight from his own corner for a substantial part of the contest.

It didn’t matter though, as Mayweather was ruled the winner of a fight in which he put on an impressive boxing clinic.

Mayweather was smiling at the end of the eighth round despite a bloody nose. That just provides even more proof as to how confident “Money” was during the battle, as if his pre-fight bravado wasn’t enough.

At the conslusion of the fight, Mayweather stood up on the turnbuckle, much to the chagrin of the crowd. He embraced Cotto prior to the decision, as “Money” knew he saw Cotto in tip-top shape.

Mayweather was ruled the winner 117-111, 117-111, 118-110.

Mayweather improves to 42-0-0 (26 KO) while Cotto takes a hit and falls to 37-2-0 (30 KO)