MANILA, Philippines - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez landed enough right hands down the stretch to take a unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto and lift The Ring magazine junior middleweight title on Sunday, November 22 (Manila time) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, USA.
Judges scored the bout widely in favor of the 25-year-old Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 knockouts), 117-111, 119-109 and 118-110, but the living legend Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) managed to keep it competitive throughout the bout.
The bout was billed as being the latest in a long rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican fighters, but save for action in rounds 4 and 8, the bout was more a technical display of skill than the all-out war some people expected.
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Puerto Rico's Cotto, despite being 10 years Alvarez's senior, seemed to dictate the pace from rounds 9-11 before Alvarez closed the fight in strong fashion. Cotto sustained a cut on his left eye near the end of the bout that was not a factor.
The win earned the Guadalajara, Mexico native Alvarez the lineal title at 160 pounds, but many boxing insiders consider unbeaten Kazakh boxer Gennady Golovkin to be the most dominant champion at middleweight.
Alvarez didn't shy away from answering HBO commentator Max Kellerman's challenge about fighting "Triple G," saying he'd like to focus on this victory but inviting Golovkin to put gloves on now and fight him.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here is Canelo's answer to fighting GGG. WOW <a href="https://t.co/0rth1JFAVB">pic.twitter.com/0rth1JFAVB</a></p>— Brandon Spano (@BrandonSpano) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonSpano/status/668307738728857601">November 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Alvarez has now won 4 straight since his lone defeat, a split-decision verdict against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013. – Rappler.com