Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto

Last updated
Ring Kings
Mayweather vs. Cotto.JPG
DateMay 5, 2012
Venue MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line WBA (Super) super welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Miguel Cotto Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Nickname Junito Money
Hometown Caguas, Puerto Rico Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Purse $8,000,000 $45,000,000
Pre-fight record 37–2 (30 KO) 42–0 (26 KO)
Age 31 years, 6 months 35 years, 2 months
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 154 lb (70 kg) 151 lb (68 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBA (Super)
Super Welterweight Champion
The Ring
No. 1 Ranked Light Middleweight
3-division world champion
WBC
Welterweight Champion
The Ring
No. 2 Ranked Welterweight
The Ring No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter
5-division world champion
Result
Mayweather Jr. wins via 12-round unanimous decision (117-111, 117-111, 118-110)

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. [1] The bout was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. [2] Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision in what was deemed to be a clear, but very competitive fight.

Contents

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. [3] Negotiations for the fight hit the wall, however, when there were arguments over the venue [4] and how the money from the fight should be split. [5]

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. [6]

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. [7]

The fights

Álvarez vs. Mosley

Ring Kings: Canelo Álvarez vs. Shane Mosley
Title(s) on the line WBC super welterweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Flag of Mexico.svg Saúl Álvarez Flag of the United States.svg Shane Mosley
Nickname "Canelo" "Sugar"
Hometown Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco, Mexico Pomona, California, U.S.
Purse $2,000,000 $750,000
Pre-fight record 39–0–1 (29 KO) 46–7–1 (1) (39 KO)
Age 21 years, 9 months 40 years, 7 months
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)5 ft 8+12 in (174 cm)
Weight 154 lb (70 kg) 154 lb (70 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBC
Super Welterweight Champion
The Ring
No. 2 Ranked Light Middleweight
WBC
No. 4 Ranked Super Welterweight
3-division world champion
Result
Álvarez defeats Mosley by unanimous decision

In the chief support WBC super welterweight champion Canelo Álvarez faced former 3 division world champion Shane Mosley. [8]

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." [9]

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. [10] 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 [I've faced]. Mayweather is fast, Cotto, all those guys I fought. He's up there with them."

Preceded by Canelo Álvarez's bouts
5 May 2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by Shane Mosley's bouts
5 May 2012
Succeeded by

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. [11] 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." [12] [13]

Reported fight earnings

The fight drew 1.5 Million pay per view buys. [14]

Main card

Confirmed bouts: [15]

Mayweather wins by UD with scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice. [16]

Alvarez wins by UD with scores of 119-109 twice and 118-110. [17]

Vargas wins by UD with scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93. [18]

Quintana wins by KO (6)

Preliminary card

Thurman wins by TKO (3)

International broadcasting

CountryBroadcaster
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Main Event
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Be Sport 1
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil SporTV
Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria Sport Plus HD
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Viewers Choice
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Sport 1
Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark TV 2 Sport
Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia Viasat Sport Baltic
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Viasat Sport
Flag of France.svg  France Canal+
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary Sport 1
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel Sport 1 HD
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan WOWOW
Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia Viasat Sport Baltic
Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania Viasat Sport Baltic
Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia Astro SuperSport
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico Televisa
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Sky
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway Viasat Sport
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Solar Sports TV5

and AKTV on IBC

Flag of Qatar.svg  Qatar Al Jazeera Sports
Flag of Romania.svg  Romania Sport.ro
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia NTV Plus
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore SuperSports
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia Sport 1
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa SuperSport
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden TV10
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand TrueVisions
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine Inter
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom BoxNation
Flag of the United States.svg  United States HBO PPV
Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela Meridiano

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References

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  2. Mayweather vs Cotto Confirmed For May 5th at MGM Grand – Boxing News. Boxingscene.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-06.
  3. Mayweather calls out Pacquiao on Twitter – Boxing – Yahoo! Sports Archived 2012-01-14 at the Wayback Machine . Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-06.
  4. Mayweather and Pacquiao had phone conversation | Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao. Mayweathervspacquiaofight.net. Retrieved on 2012-05-06.
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Preceded by Miguel Cotto's bouts
5 May 2012
Succeeded by
Preceded by Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s bouts
5 May 2012
Succeeded by