In one of the most anticipated fights of the year, Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) and Canelo Álvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) thrilled fans from start to finish with high-intensity action just as promised, but it was Canelo that persevered and was crowned the new WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion with a unanimous decision win after 12-rounds.
Francisco “El Bandido” Vargas(23-0-1, 17 KOs) was crowned the new WBC Super Featherweight World Champion, retaining his undefeated status after securing a technical knockout in the ninth-round over Takashi Miura (29-3-2, 22 KOs).
British challenger Anthony Crolla (30-4-3, 12 KOs) got one of his rare knockouts tonight when he stopped WBA World lightweight champion Darleys Perez (32-2-1, 20 KOs) in the 5th round in their rematch in the 28-year-old Crolla’s own hometown at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Making his fourth attempt at winning a world title, challenger Martin Murray (32-3-1, 15 KOs) came up a little short in losing a controversial 12 round split decision to WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) at the TUI Arena in Hanover, Germany. The scores were 115-112, 116-111 for Abraham, and 115-112 for Murray.
When attempting to compare and rank the unbeaten streaks of various fighters it is essential to consider the quality of the opponents that they defeated. If this is not done, Nioklay Valuev’s 47 fight run would rank ahead of George Foreman’s 40 fight undefeated streak. With all due respect to the often underrated “Russian Giant”, this would be ludicrous.
So, determining the quality of each “opponent” is important. The fairest and most objective way to do this – in this writer’s opinion – is to judge each boxer against the standard of the era in which he fought.
Englishman Lee Haskin’s has become the IBF bantamweight champion by default after Randy Caballero tipped the scales at yesterday’s weigh-in at 123.5 lbs, a full 5.5 lbs over the sanctioned limit.
The two were set to meet on the Cotto/Canelo undercard tonight in Las Vegas for the Californian’s strap, yet after the weigh-in debacle and Haskins [correct] refusal to fight on at a catch-weight, he will return to the UK in a bittersweet mood as the new IBF titlist.
Current Tim Bradley trainer, Teddy Atlas is picking Miguel Cotto to win tonight’s WBC middleweight battle with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Las Vegas, claiming the Puerto Rican will box around a ‘drained’ looking ‘Canelo’ and take advantage of his ‘cement feet.’
Atlas, who has just enjoyed a successful corner debut with Bradley, initially believed that Canelo was going to be too young and strong for Cotto, although having watched the Mexican come in bang on the 155 c/w limit, Atlas feels the hugely popular young star looks drained.
Britain’s Martin Murray is confident that he will be treated fairly by the officials in Germany tonight, ahead of his challenge to home fighter and WBO super-middleweight champion, Arthur Abraham.
No stranger to travelling throughout his career, Murray tonight arrives in Hannover for his 4th crack at a world title, after 3 previous attempts at middleweight went against him, including a previous visit to Deutschland in 2011 when he was held to a draw by then champion and adopted German, Felix Sturm.
Mexican modern great, Juan Manuel Marquez has spoken out ahead of tonight’s Mexico v Puerto Rico catch-weight clash between Miguel Cotto and ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, to wisely state ‘experience will be the key.’
Marquez, ostensibly now retired following injury, though refusing to confirm or deny as much, was keen to state if the fight is in any way close, that it could well be the 35 year old Puerto Rican who emerges the victor, thanks to his top-level experience, which far exceeds that of the younger Alvarez.
“Mexico vs Puerto Rico” is arguably the biggest rivalry in the history of the sport. Tonight that rivalry will etch a new chapter in stone as veteran Puerto Rican warrior Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33KO’s) takes on Mexico’s biggest and fastest rising star, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KO’s). Coming into 2015 the world anticipated Mayweather vs Pacquiao. Although that bout didn’t live up to the larger-than-life hype, there’s no question that this showdown will hit the mark. As we countdown the hours, lets take a quick look at “keys to victory”, four critical angles to explore, and a final prediction: