After years of talking about it, Miguel Cotto and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez are finally going to face off in the ring. The bout, which will probably be the second-biggest of the year behind the May bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, will be for middleweight (160 lb) belts but has a 155 lb. catchweight.
The bout airs on pay-per-view as the headliner of a four-fight card. The PPV kicks off at 9pm ET/6pm PT.
Cotto (40-4, 33 KO) and Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO) are both on three-fight winning streaks. The main event is expected to start some time between 11pm and midnight ET (my guess would be closer to midnight, as per boxing tradition).
Join as at Bloody Elbow for live results and play-by-play of the fight. Offer your opinion in the comment section!
PPV Card
Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez
Round 1 – Cotto jabbing early. Nice double lab and a left. Canelo with a left hook. Canelo rips to the body. Canelo to the body at the same time Cotto scores with a right to the head. Canelo with the jab. Cotto with a stinging jab after a flurry. Quick left hook by both men. Canelo back to the body. Both score to the body. Triple jab from Cotto. Cotto moving a lot. Right scores and left hook by Canelo. Even round, but I’ll go 10-9 Cotto.
Round 2 – Cotto rips off a right. Cotto put together a combo but ate a big counter left to the body. Body/head for Canelo. Nice body/head combo for Cotto, not much power behind it though. Right uppercut for Alvarez doesn’t really get through. Counter right, jab, left hook for Canelo. Right counter from Alvarez. Cotto’s throwing a lot but not connecting a ton. Straight right from Alvarez. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 3 – Cotto with a counter straight left. A lot of glancing blows from both men early. Canelo throwing more now, with a body shot and a straight left. A right from Canelo, but Cotto responds with a body shot. Straight right for Canelo. Counter right from Cotto right when Canelo looked to be taking control of the round. Alvarez using better angles now as well. Nice jab gets through Alvarez’s guard, and again. Two more. Hard right over the top scores for Alvarez. Maybe the best punch of the fight. Straight left from Cotto. Close again. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 4 – Cotto with the lead straight left. Double jab from Alvarez. Hard right by Cotto. Alvarez with the right and evades four shots from Cotto. Now three straight left hooks from Cotto, one to the body and two to the head. Nice straight left from Canelo. Both score body shots, and trade shots and counters standing toe-to-toe. Double jab for Cotto. Nice combo for Cotto on a leaning Alvarez. 10-9 Cotto.
Round 5 – Alvarez goes a tad low. Cotto with his body shot. Hard right from Canelo. A stinging uppercut landed for Alvarez, which got Cotto a bit fired up. Another lead right hook from Canelo. Hard left uppercut from Alvarez. Cotto’s getting dinged up a bit. Another hard right by Alvarez. First crystal clear round of the fight. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 6 – Cotto came out with more fire, but got cracked with a straight left. Cotto scored to the body but evaded the rest of the combo. Alvarez with a beauty one-two combo. Nice right to the body from Cotto. Cotto isn’t really throwing the jab at all now for some reason. Right as I say that, he scored with a couple. Bit of a nothing round though. Canelo scores a couple late. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 7 – Cotto came out active again, but landed mostly glancing shots. Canelo took them and ripped back with two lead rights that scored. Cotto with a left hook. Cotto gets the jab through. Canelo is really winding up with his right. A counter right connects nicely for Alvarez. Cotto with a glancing left hook. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 8 – Beautiful left uppercut lands for Canelo just a few seconds in. They finally open up and start banging! Big body shot from Cotto! Alvarez with a left right and the uppercut! Another! A third! Cotto is throwing hard but Canelo is taking it all and throwing back with way more power. Cotto with a left hook. By far the best action of the fight. Cotto with a big three-punch combo ending with a left hook. Right uppercut from Canelo. Cotto rips the right to the body. Good shot late from Cotto, but not enough to take the round. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 9 – Straight right from Cotto scores. Looping left hook from Alvarez. Both connect with rights at the same time. Canelo with the uppercut. Left hook to the body from Cotto but Alvarez responds with his own. Hard left hook from Alvarez. Cotto blocks an uppercut. Back to the jab. Alvarez just takes them though. Two left kooks in a row from Alvarez. Cotto with a four-punch response. Cotto with the volume, Canelo with the power. 10-9 Canelo.
Round 10 – Left hook and straight right up the middle gets through for Canelo. Hard body shot from Canelo elicits a warning from the referee. Cotto with a nice combo close in, and thumps Alvarez to the body. They tie up for one of the first times in the fight. Canelo missing a lot. Just missed with the uppercut. Jab finds it way through for Cotto. Hard body shot from Canelo. Cotto with a late right. Alvarez responds with a three punch combo at the bell that stumbled Cotto a bit. Close round, I’ll go 10-9 Cotto.
Round 11 – Alvarez rips to the body. Cotto connects with a right hook. Cotto with a nice combo. Hard right to the body from Canelo. Jab from Cotto after a right inside from Alvarez. Left hook from Canelo. Alvarez moving a lot now, with Canelo pretty flat-footed. Double jab from Cotto. Body shot, and two-punch combo from Alvarez. Double jab from Cotto. I’ll go 10-9 Cotto again.
Round 12 – Big action to start round 12. Both men looking for the KO, but Alvarez is the one connecting. Body and left hook for Canelo. He’s all over him. But here comes Cotto back with a big shot! Cotto with a combo. Cotto is cut over the eye. Straight right for Canelo. Cotto with his left hook, but not enough on it. Alvarez with the uppercut, Cotto with another left hook. Alvarez looks tired, but Cotto needs to do something big. Canelo hurts Cotto with a body shot! Cotto backing off. Canelo rips him with a combo! Hard straight lefts from Cotto. Cotto coming forward late, but that was Canelo’s round. I have it 116-112 Canelo.
Saul Alvarez defeats Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision (117-111, 119-109, 118-110)
Francisco Vargas defeats Takashi Miura by TKO at 1:31 of round 9
Guillermo Rigondeaux defeats Drian Francisco by unanimous decision (97-93, 100-90, 100-90)
Ronny Rios defeated Jayson Velez by unanimous decision (97-92, 95-94, 96-93)