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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Miguel Cotto

by
Jason Dewey
November 17, 2015

Written by Jason Dewey for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!

Miguel Cotto will head into his 24^th career world
title fight this weekend against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The two will go head to
head for the WBC World Middleweight Title at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino
in Las Vegas.

Tale of the Tape

Miguel Cotto	Name	Saul Alvarez
35	Age	25
Orthodox	Stance	Orthodox
170 CM	Height	175 CM
170 CM	Reach	179 CM
40 (33 KOs)	Won	45 (32 KOs)
4 (2 KOs)	Lost	1 (0 KOs)
75%	KO%	68%

To Win Fight
Saul Alvarez 3/10
Miguel Cotto 5/2

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

Alvarez heads into this fight as one of the best pound-for-pound
boxers in the world at the moment and his (45-1-1, 32 KO) record underlines his
credentials. The ferocious Mexican’s only professional defeat came at the hands of Floyd
Mayweather, in which he was comfortably defeated on points by the American
superstar.

Since that defeat to Mayweather, Alvarez has gone on to win his next three fights against the highly rated James Kirkland (KO) as well as Erislandy Lara (SD) and Alfredo Angulo (TKO).

Amir Khan went on record saying “I think it will be an
exciting fight, but I clearly think Canelo will win, and I even see him winning
by knockout. I don’t think Cotto can deal with the youth, strength and speed on
Canelo.”

Khan’s examination of the fight seems accurate. The
25-year-old Mexican is quick on his feet, possess immense strength and can wear
even the best fighters in the world down with his sound jabbing technique. He tends
to impose himself on his opponents, dominating throughout the early rounds with
his power and control before looking for the stoppage or knockout later on.

This was evident in his last fight where he annihilated James
Kirkland in three rounds. Having dropped American in the first, Alvarez
was relentless in his approach, landing flurries at will. He would eventually
floor his challenger in the third round after referee, Jon Schorle put an end
to the bout.

Aside from being the stronger of the two fighters, Alvarez is also less likely to fatigue in the earlier rounds. The Mexican has, however, had his stamina called into question on a few occasions. Freddie Roach, who trained Alvarez for three fights, came
out earlier this week saying that he doesn’t train particularly hard and
struggles with conditioning leading up his fights. Whether or not this will have
any effect on how Canelo approaches his opponent remains to be seen.

Properly conditioned or not, Cotto should be worried when he steps into the ring with Alvarez on Sunday morning. Whenever the Mexican fighter knows he has the advantage in strength and reach he tends to run over his opponents in search of the knockout. Saul will have to be weary of going in all guns blazing, however, as Cotto possesses one of the best left hooks in the sport. The Mexican could well find himself staring up at the lights of the Mandalay Events Centre if he gets in too close to the Puerto Rican.

Miguel Cotto

At 34, Cotto is definitely past his prime, however the
Puerto Rican is still able to mix it up with the best in the world on his day.
That is exactly what will be required of him when he steps into the ring with
Alvarez. Having turned professional in 2001, Cotto went on to take on some of
the biggest names in boxing. As an upcoming prospect, he defeated the likes of
John Brown, Justin Jukko, Victoriano Sosa and Cesar Bazan. He is the only
fighter from Puerto Rico to win world titles in four different weight
classes.

Cotto has built his reputation on reinventing himself after career-threatening losses. He first burst onto the scene as an aggressive puncher who enjoyed going to the body at 140 pounds. He would later move on to 154 pounds and honed his style to become more of an out-and-out boxer under Cuban trainer, Pedro Diaz. Under the guidance of Freddie Roach, he has evolved into a immensely dangerous mixture of both.

He’s going to need to call on all of his experience if he
wants to defeat a fired-up Alvarez on Sunday morning. Freddie Roach was
typically vocal about his fighter’s prospects, claiming “my fighter will win by
KO”. This is something fight fans have become accustomed to hearing from Roach
prior to any big fight, however, should we be taking it more seriously this
time around?

Cotto has been working closely with Roach in the build-up to
this fight. The world-famous trainer, who has spent time working with Alvarez, believes
he’s identified a potential weakness in the Mexican.

The former prize-fighter
claimed that Alvarez “is a bit of a lazy guy, and he doesn’t train hard” he
would go on to say that “he trained at Wildcard West, I own that gym. I know,
when he trained there, how many times he showed up, and how many times he didn’t.
The kid’s not a disciplined fighter, and my guy is. We’ll break him down in the
early rounds, and take him out in the later rounds, I promise you.”

Whether or not an aging Cotto will be able to mix it up in the
later rounds with his younger opponent remains to be seen. He does come into
this bout having won his last three fights against Daniel Geale (TKO), Sergio
Martinez (RTD) and Delvin Rodriguez (TKO). One feels that if he is to have any
chance of winning on Sunday morning, he will need to win by stoppage in the
first six or seven rounds. The Puerto Rican does have a tendency to fade later on into his fights, something that was apparent his four career defeats thus far.

If he fails to knock Alvarez out, Cotto will look to his supreme technique in order to stay in the fight. An incredibly accurate puncher who makes use of his lightening-quick feet to set up angles, he will be depending on all of his guile and experience to avoid getting drawn into a slugfest with the dangerous Mexican.

Verdict: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at 3/10

The only way I see Miguel Cotto defeating Saul Alvarez on
Sunday morning is if he lands one of his trademark left hooks early on –
knocking out the young Mexican. Alvarez, however, will be weary of this and
will have worked hard on a plan to avoid such an outcome. You can expect an
Alvarez win in typically devastating fashion.

Undercard

The undercard for the main fight has been almost been finalised with Guillermo Rigondeaux set to take on Drian Francisco in a junior featherweight bout. You can see the full card below:

Hector Tanajara vs TBA – Lightweight, no belts on the line
Zhilei Zhang vs Donnie Palmer – Heavyweight, no belts on the line
Alberto Machado vs Tyrone Luckey – Featherweight, no belts on the line
Jose Martinez vs Oscar Mojica – Flyweight, no belts on the line
Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Drian Francisco – Super Bantamweight, no belts on the line
Jayson Velez vs Ronny Rios – Featherweight, no belts on the line
Randy Cabellero vs Lee Haskins – Bantamweight, IBF World Bantamweight Title
Takashi Miura vs Francisco Vargas – Featherweight, WBC Super Featherweight Title
Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez – Middleweight, WBC World Middleweight Title