This Saturday night on HBO PPV, Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan step in to the ring in a kind of odd but intriguing fight. In the lead-up to it, HBO is presenting highlights from both men, starting here with Canelo vs. Cotto.
This November 2015 fight saw Canelo Alvarez claim the lineal Middleweight title from Miguel Cotto in a much anticipated PPV showdown. It is the biggest win of Canelo’s career to date, and it brought him the Middleweight title that he defends for the first time Saturday night. That title is an intriguing part of the story here. Cotto walked into this fight as Middleweight champion, having taken the belt from Sergio Martinez in June 2014. Where Martinez was a true Middleweight, Cotto came up to 160 pounds in order to take the big money fight against Martinez. When Cotto won, he became the undisputed champion of a division he had never previously competed in. Cotto insisted on a catchweight of 157 for his first defense against Daniel Geale, and he and Canelo fought at 155 – just 1 pound over the Light Middleweight limit. Canelo has kept that trend going, as he makes his first defense here also at 155.
As for the Cotto vs. Canelo fight itself, the end result was a somewhat tentative, but still good fight. Canelo took the decision win, but there were a handful of robbery cries, including from Cotto and his camp. Take a look above and judge for yourself.
Also notable from this fight – Cotto vs. Canelo drew a PPV buyrate of 900,000. That’s the highest buys for either man outside of fights against Mayweather or Pacquiao, and overall the highest non-Mayweather/Pacquiao buyrate boxing has seen in years (It also demolishes the buys for Mayweather and Pacquiao’s “retirement” fights.) Khan is not Miguel Cotto in terms of popularity, but he’s not Erislandy Lara either – it will be interesting to see how this Saturday’s fight does.
Tune in this Saturday night, May 7, for live Canelo vs. Khan coverage, right here at Bloody Elbow.
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