Mayweather vs. Cotto: Highly Anticipated Battle Somehow Exceeded Hype

It was a fight that was supposed to be a blowout, an easy win for the greatest boxer in the world, who was facing a rival who's been unable to prove he can hang with the toughest competition—yet somehow, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto ended up being a great fight.

Maybe one of the best of Mayweather's career. 

Unsurprisingly, Mayweather remained 43-0 after a unanimous decision over Cotto on Saturday night. Surprisingly, though, Cotto made it hard for him. Cotto, against all odds, gave him one of his toughest battles ever.

So much for being an automatic win for Mayweather.

Prior to the fight, Cotto took a lot of flak for being unproven. His recent record leading up to his bout with Mayweather was an unimpressive 5-2, and for the most part, his wins came against inferior competition. His most remarkable victory came against Antonio Margarito in 2011, but it was only a chance for Cotto to redeem himself after a crushing defeat at Margarito's hands in 2008.

It's easy to see why, leading up to the matchup, Cotto was the only one saying he had a chance of beating Mayweather, a feat no one has ever accomplished.

Nobody expected Cotto to win—all he had to do to maintain some respect was not choke. But his game plan wasn't to save face. His game plan was to win, and in the process, he gave the world a show.

As Mayweather told the Associated Press afterward, "He came to fight, he didn't just come to survive. I dug down and fought him back."

Mayweather seemed to be emitting an odd sense of relief after the match. He seemed more mellow than usual, more humble. He wasn't the picture of someone who'd just scored and easy victory. He was the picture of someone who'd worked tirelessly for a win and was spent.

Mayweather's respect for his opponent was obvious when, after the fight, he told Cotto, "You're a hell of a champion. You're the toughest guy I ever fought," according to the AP.

Almost immediately after the match, the conversation quickly turned to whether or not Mayweather would ever fight Manny Pacquiao because it's been deemed "the fight the fans want," but in many ways, Mayweather vs. Cotto was unexpectedly exactly what the fans were asking for.

Cotto may have been the heavy underdog, but he made this fight a battle. He made it fun to watch and he made it exciting. In the end, that's all the fans were asking for.