Canelo Alvarez Bigger, Badder and Smarter Than Ever in Miguel Cotto Victory
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was already a superstar when he entered the ring against Miguel Cotto on Saturday night. The pro-Alvarez crowd at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas cheered lustily for him when he strutted to the ring. The betting odds heading into the fight were outrageously pro-Alvarez despite Cotto’s reputation as one of the best fighters of the era, the lineal middleweight champion and Puerto Rico’s first prizefighter to hold world title belts in four different weight classes. Cotto had simply looked outstanding over his last three fights, all knockout wins over accomplished opposition.
But Alvarez, in practically dominating Cotto over 12 rounds, left the ring something more than just that popular superstar fighter he entered it as, something even more than the lineal and WBC middleweight champion he became with the win.
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Alvarez proved he can be The Man. He possesses all the skills necessary—heavy hands, high-velocity punches, outstanding defense and advanced boxing acumen—to compete with anyone.
“Much respect to Cotto,” Alvarez told HBO’s Max Kellerman after the fight. “But it’s now my era.”
It certainly is.
The fight wasn’t easy for Alvarez, but it didn’t really appear all that difficult either. Judges at ringside scored the bout 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 for Canelo.
Sure, he went into the fight a younger and naturally heavier man, but many believed heading into Saturday night that Cotto’s power and excellent boxing skills might help him prevail. Or at least he could be competitive. Right?
He wasn’t.
Cotto tried. He was swift and nimble in the bout, boxing up on his toes, bouncing around the ring like a jackrabbit. But this rabbit was vicious and had fangs, and Cotto’s sharp jab was the lead tooth in the fight.
He doubled it. He tripled it. He threw it going any direction his fast feet took him.
But if Cotto was a jackrabbit, Alvarez was a bear. The 25-year-old Mexican was big and strong, and he fought like he knew Cotto couldn’t hurt him.
Alvarez’s feet do look bear-heavy at times. Unlike Cotto, he can’t glide around the ring effortlessly and seemingly weightless. But his hands are heavier than his feet, and those feet are fast enough to take him where he needs to go to use them, and light enough for him to get away from trouble when he needs it, too.
Unlike in his lackluster showing against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, Alvarez fought a smart fight. He crowded Cotto right from the opening bell, pressuring the smaller man to the ropes as often as he could. He threw a stiff jab when Cotto drifted out of range of his power punches, even throwing it hard at Cotto’s chest if nothing else presented itself. Alvarez even threw devastating body punches to one of the best body punchers in the history of the sport.
Brave. But more importantly, Alvarez was smart.
Alvarez threw the right punches at the right times. That’s harder to do than it sounds. He used subtle feints to draw a reaction from Cotto, then leapt in with a sharp hook or rocketing uppercut. He varied the rhythm and pattern of his punches.
Here he’d throw a one-two. There he’d throw a two-one. He led with hooks and uppercuts. He threw hard right hands to the body. He exited range with snappy jabs.
Alvarez was, in fact, masterful in the fight.
By Round 8, it seemed Cotto decided he’d better make a stand if he hoped to remain champion of the world after the fight. Courageously, he stood his ground against Alvarez, throwing punches up and down the cinnamon-haired kid’s body like he was 10 years younger.
This was vintage Cotto. It was as if suddenly we had traveled back through time to see the fighter Cotto was before he was butchered by Antonio Margarito under shady circumstances all those years ago.
But Alvarez answered him in kind, and his punches were faster, heavier and more accurate, too.
The last third of the fight was action-packed, but Alvarez always got the better of it. Cotto would stand his ground, trying to force the predatory Alvarez to move backward. But Alvarez absorbed Cotto’s lighter blows. He blocked and parried them. He slipped out of the way of them. And he threw back with vicious intent.
Alvarez’s punches had the velocity of a rocket ship. They were bullets and Cotto was just the target.
By Round 12, fans watching the bout live in the arena or on HBO pay-per-view had to finally realize what there were seeing. Right?
Alvarez wasn’t just beating a great fighter. He wasn’t just winning one for Mexico. He wasn’t just outboxing and outthinking a future Hall of Famer in one of the biggest and most important fights of his life.
He was dominating.
Alvarez was not that 23-year-old kid in over his head against Mayweather in 2013. He wasn’t the flustered brute that hopelessly flailed his arms around over 12 rounds in his first bid to take over as boxing’s No. 1 draw.
No, the Alvarez that defeated a courageous but shockingly overmatched Cotto was the complete package. Bigger, badder and smarter than ever.
This was Canelo 2.0.
And if Alvarez is truly boxing’s new king after vanquishing Cotto and because Mayweather has retired, perhaps juxtaposition against the previous era’s king was on display twice during the final moments of the night.
First, in Round 12, surely ahead on the three judges’ scorecards, Alvarez leapt at Cotto to start the round and went for the knockout. He almost got it, too. Similar to Mayweather-Cotto in 2012, Cotto was badly hurt during the final three minutes of the fight.
When Mayweather saw it, he knew he could step back and easily take the win on the points. Alvarez? He went after Cotto even more.
Then, of course, there was the post-fight interview with Kellerman. When HBO’s famed color analyst asked Alvarez if he would give fight fans the fight they so desperately want to see, a bout against the often ducked and dodged Gennady Golovkin, holder of the WBA and IBF middleweight title belts, Alvarez was resolute in his reply.
He had been coy when posed such questions before. But when boxing's new king, the lineal middleweight champion of the world and the sport’s No. 1 draw, was asked if he was ready to fight Golovkin, he did not waver in his response.
“I’ll fight him right now.”
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