 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | August 26, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | StubHub Center, Carson, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | vacant WBO light middleweight title | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cotto wins via 12–round unanimous decision (120–108, 119–109, 118–110) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Miguel Cotto vs. Yoshihiro Kamegai was a professional boxing match contested on August 26, 2017, for the vacant WBO light middleweight title. [1]
Following a November 2015 loss to Canelo Álvarez, four-division world champion Miguel Cotto had been inactive after several efforts to get back in the ring had fallen through. First, Cotto and his team had engaged in talks with fellow four-division world champion Juan Manuel Márquez, who had been on hiatus for nearly two years. [2] The Cotto–Márquez fight had nearly been agreed to when negotiations fell apart due to both parties disagreeing on which weight to fight at; the smaller Márquez was willing to come up to the 147–pound welterweight limit, while Cotto, who had not fought as a welterweight since 2009 and had been fighting in either the 154–pound light middleweight or 160–pound middleweight divisions since, insisted on 150–pound catchweight between the welterweight and light middleweight divisions, which Márquez refused, causing the fight's cancellation. [3] After ending talks with Márquez, Cotto still had tentative plans to return to the ring that fall with Michael Yormark of Roc Nation, who promoted Cotto, claiming that they were "hopeful" to make an announcement on a possible opponent "over the next couple of weeks." [4] However, in October, after talks with former IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson broke down, it was announced that Cotto would not fight at all in 2016. [5] In December, Cotto reached an agreement to face James Kirkland February 25, 2017, seemingly ending his 15–month layoff. [6] However, this fight too was derailed when Kirkland suffered a broken nose during a sparring session at his training camp in early February. [7]
Cotto then reached an agreement with little known Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Kamegai to fight for the vacant WBO light middleweight title. This fight was temporarily put in jeopardy when Roc Nation refused to meet Cotto's purse demands as they feared that the fight would lose money with Cotto taking on a rather obscure fighter. This would lead to Cotto and Roc Nation parting ways and Cotto instead signing a deal with Golden Boy Promotions. With Golden Boy at the helm, the Cotto–Kamegai fight was made official in late May to take place that August in California's StubHub Center. [8] [9]
Cotto would cruise to a lopsided unanimous decision, winning every round on judge Robin Taylor's scorecard (120–108) while only losing three rounds combined on the other two (119–109 and 118–110). Cotto landed punches almost at will, tying a career high with 251 power punches landed and landing 40% of his total punches, which equated to 339 out of a career high 839 thrown punches. Though Kamegai was unable to sustain much offense, he showed remarkable durability as, despite being hammered by Cotto's power punches all throughout the fight, he continued to press forward and never appeared to be in danger of getting knocked down. [10] [11]
Confirmed bouts: [12]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Time | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Miguel Cotto | def. | Yoshihiro Kamegai | UD | 12 | note 1 | |
| Super Bantamweight | 122 lbs. | Rey Vargas | def. | Ronny Rios | UD | 12 | note 2 | |
| Preliminary Card | ||||||||
| Featherweight | 126 lbs. | Joet Gonzalez | def. | Deivi Julio | KO | 5/10 | 2:57 | |
| Super Bantamweight | 122 lbs. | Emilio Sanchez | def. | Danny Flores | KO | 5/8 | 0:55 | |
| Mini Flyweight | 105 lbs. | Janiel Rivera | def. | Marco Antonio Sanchez | KO | 1/8 | 1:59 | |
| Light Welterweight | 140 lbs. | Genaro Gamez | def. | Eduardo Rafael Reyes | UD | 6 | ||
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Alexis Rocha | def. | Esau Herrera de la Cruz | KO | 1/6 | 2:59 | |
| Featherweight | 126 lbs. | Tenochtitlan Nava | def. | Angel Enrique Aguilar Jimenez | UD | 4 | ||
| Light Welterweight | 140 lbs. | Ruben Rodriguez | def. | Rolando Padilla | KO | 2/4 | 0:47 | |
| Super Bantamweight | 122 lbs. | Javier Padilla | D | Ricardo Arias | UD | 4 | ||
^Note 1 For Vacant WBO light middleweight title
^Note 2 For WBC Super Bantamweight title
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Latin America | Space |
 Panama | RPC |
 United Kingdom | BoxNation |
 United States | HBO |