Miguel Cotto Vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto, billed as ''Ring Kings'', was a professional boxing match contested on May 5, 2012, for the WBA (Super) super welterweight championship. The bout was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision in what was deemed to be a clear, but very competitive fight.

Background

Mayweather

There was immediate speculation as to whom Mayweather would fight. Many felt that he should fight eight division champion, Manny Pacquiao. Indeed Mayweather called out Pacquiao via Twitter. Negotiations for the fight hit the wall, however, when there were arguments over the venue and how the money from the fight should be split.

Mayweather has had one previous fight in the 154-pound division, which was when he outpointed Oscar De La Hoya to win a belt in May 2007.

Mayweather reclaimed one of his old welterweight titles by knocking out Victor Ortiz controversially in the fourth round at the MGM Grand on Sept. 17, 2011.Rafael, Dan. (2012-02-01
Floyd Mayweather to fight Miguel Cotto
ESPN. Retrieved on 2012-02-01.

Cotto

Making the third defense of his title, Cotto was in a fight without Top Rank as his promoter for the first time in his career. His contract with Bob Arum's company expired following his Dec. 3 revenge, 10th-round knockout victory against Antonio Margarito and he will be working with Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank's archrival, on the fight with Mayweather.

Drug Testing

Both fighters agreed to random blood and urine testing for the fight, which Mayweather had demanded of his most recent opponents at the time.

The fights

Álvarez vs. Mosley

In the chief support WBC super welterweight champion Canelo Álvarez faced former 3 division world champion Shane Mosley.

When the fight was agreed in February, Álvarez said "This is the fight I was looking for. Shane Mosley is a tremendous fighter with a lot of experience and big victories in his storied career. Even though I have enormous respect and admiration for Mosley, because he is a great person outside of the ring, my goal is to defeat him with a great performance." Mosley would admit his recent performances had been lacking (having gone 0–2–1 in his last three bouts) saying "This is more of a fight to prove myself. I know I didn't look good in my last couple of fights and I really want to make a statement in this fight, I just want to get in the ring, fight a world champion and win another belt. I'm very excited and happy. It's another chance for me to show that I still belong. He's a young guy and it's a tough fight, but I'm excited to get the fight. A lot of guys want to be in the position I am in to have this type of fight."

The fight

Mosley would perform better than he had in his previous bouts but Alvarez was able to take advantage, landing numerous clean right hands and left hooks.

The fight lasted the full 12 rounds with Álvarez winning a one-sided unanimous decision with scores of 119–109, 119–109 and 118–110. ESPN scored the fight wide 118–110 for Álvarez. Álvarez landed more than half the punches he threw (348 of 673). According to CompuBox, it was the most an opponent had landed on Mosley in the 34 fights that they have tracked from his career.

Aftermath

Speaking after the bout Alvarez said "This was a great experience, I felt really good and I want to thank Shane for giving me this experience. He's a great fighter, a true veteran. I tried to knock him out. He took a lot of punches, but it didn't work." Mosley would praise the champion saying "His defense was really good and he was really fast, He can go a long way. When the kids start to beat you, you might need to start going to promoting. I didn't expect him to be that fast or that good. He's up there with the top guys 've faced Mayweather is fast, Cotto, all those guys I fought. He's up there with them."

Main Event

The fight started off with Cotto establishing himself as the aggressor, but with Mayweather winning the first two rounds using effective counter-punching and body movement to block most of Cotto's punches. However, in the third round Cotto seemed to successfully swarm Mayweather and land decent flurries to steal himself the round. Then from rounds 4-9 the action was closely contested, with both fighters using their partially contrasting styles in attempts to one-up the other. Ultimately though, Mayweather managed to adjust to Cotto's new rhythm of attacking in flurries and used his now-newly tweaked counter-punching style to win a lot of the final rounds, in what people thought had secured Mayweather the decision victory. Cotto had Mayweather against the ropes many times, resulting in some damage and a lot of bleeding from Mayweather's nose. Cotto's eyes had some partial swelling.

Mayweather won via unanimous decision with scores of 117–111, 117–111, and 118–110. The crowd booed loudly when the scores were read out. Cotto landed 105 of 506 punches thrown (21%), while Mayweather landed 179 punches of 687 thrown (26%).

Aftermath

Cotto was humble in defeat, "The judges said I lost the fight; I can't do anything else. I'm happy with my fight and performance and so is my family. I can't ask for anything else." When they hugged at the end, Mayweather told Cotto, "You are a hell of a champion — the toughest guy I fought."

Reported fight earnings

*Floyd Mayweather Jr. guaranteed $45 million vs. Miguel Angel Cotto $8 million
*Shane Mosley $750,000 vs. Canelo Álvarez $2 million
The fight drew 1.5 Million pay per view buys.

Main card

Confirmed bouts:
* Super Welterweight Championship bout: Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto (c)
Mayweather wins by UD with scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice.

* Super Welterweight Championship bout: Canelo Álvarez (c) vs. Shane Mosley
Alvarez wins by UD with scores of 119-109 twice and 118-110.

*Light Welterweight bout: Jessie Vargas vs Steve Forbes
Vargas wins by UD with scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93.

*Super Welterweight bout: Deandre Latimore vs Carlos Quintana
Quintana wins by KO (6)

Preliminary card

*Welterweight bout: Keith Thurman vs Brandon Hoskins
Thurman wins by TKO (3)

*Featherweight bout: Braulio Santos vs Juan Sandoval
*Lightweight bout: Jeffrey Fontanez vs Benna Acaba
*Lightweight bout: Omar Figueroa vs Robbie Cannon
*Welterweight bout: Antonio Orozco vs Dillet Frederick

International broadcasting

References

External links

Mayweather vs Cotto Tale of the Tape

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayweather, Cotto
2012 in boxing
2012 in sports in Nevada
May 2012 sports events in the United States
Boxing matches at MGM Grand Garden Arena
Cotto
Mayweather
Boxing matches refereed by Tony Weeks
Boxing on HBO
Golden Boy Promotions
Light middleweight championship matches
Pay-per-view boxing matches