Miguel Cotto vs. Saúl Álvarez RBR

I passed out in my chair between Vargas' TKO of Miura and the main event ring walks! :|

(woke up at like 2am and went to bed, and have avoided spoilers ever since...watching the fight now)

 

1st round to Cotto, 10-9.

Nice side to side movement, keeping the jab on Canelo, with a varied ****nal (lefts and rights, head and body). Canelo is playing the counter-puncher and getting in far fewer shots, with Cotto defending well while out-hustling him.

 

2nd to Cotto, 20-18.

Canelo is stropping Cotto's shiny dome with the occasional right hand and timing some counter uppercuts on the chest but largely getting turned and forced to reset while Cotto attacks in multiples from angles, getting in and out doing efficient work.

 

Cotto just continues to outbox Canelo. Difference in foot speed very telling. Canelo having moments of isolated success with his weeping-willow dips inside to slam Cotto at the intersection of his white trunk seam and hot pink rump with the left upper-hook, but not enough. Cotto too gnat-like. Closer, though. 30-27.

 

Ah, damn it, the video I'm watching isn't actually the pelea completa as it advertised. They're skipping rounds and showing a few only in part. :wall

 

Pretty competitive mid-rounds, it seems. Cotto still very accurate with the incisive, stinging up-jab into Canelo's nasal base, getting the young man addicted to snorting lines of leather, setting traps well, using plenty of lateral movement while stalking and never hesitating to attack with the body hook and short clusters of power shots upstairs (while not getting reckless or greedy). Canelo seems to be making adjustments the best he can, throwing combos when he senses Cotto is about to enter the strike zone and just hoping something will stick, throwing a plethora of different shots including overhands, uppercuts, and side-sweepers.

 

They're going to war in the final session. Huge body shots from Canelo. Strong jabs by Cotto, doubled and tripled up and followed by a right cross thrown with full power and perfect technique buoyed with a push off the rear foot. Surprisingly, neither showing any signs of feeling the pace, both firing as hard as they were early on if not harder. Cotto doing a bit more dancing around now than engaging, though. Canelo is chasing and cutting the ring off by drifting to either side to block Cotto's exit, aiming to get him trapped on the ropes. Cotto blasts Canelo with a left hook to buy some time and Canelo nods his respect. BIG assault by Canelo, throwing everything but the kitchen sink as Cotto sinks against the ropes to slip and move. Cotto manages to not get hit too much, pokes the body and runs. Canelo lands a long body shot and nearly traps him on the ropes again. Triple jab by Cotto skipping away.

 

Of the complete ones I saw, Cotto got the first three (1st and 2nd clearly, 3rd closer) and Canelo round 12. Highlights of everything in between looked pretty close, though Cotto did appear to spend a lot of it fleeing (and we have seen Canelo get favorable judgment for being the aggressor before, ie versus Mayweather and Lara)

Scores were

119-109
118-110
118-110

...seriously? :blood

 

Ah. 119-109 was turned in by Dave Moretti, who is one half of why Canelo got the nod over Lara (along with Levi Martinez, whose card that night was even worse)


So which round did Moretti actually give to Cotto? Presumably the 1st or 2nd? ...and then in the entire rest of the fight, he saw it a clean sweep? I haven't seen the complete 4th-11th, but was there really a case to be made for Canelo taking all of those? I suspect not.