INSIDE SPORTS: "CANELO DESERVED TO WIN"
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 28 Nov 2015
When Floyd Mayweather Jr, the retired, undefeated pound for pound king bitterly criticized the three judges who turned in lopsided scorecards favoring Mexico?s popular youngster Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in his showdown last Saturday against an ageing Miguel Cotto to win the World Boxing Council middleweight title, he was perfectly right.
Nobody took issue with the fact that the younger and stronger ?Canelo? controlled the tempo of the fight and landed the more powerful punches that ultimately counted more than the jabs of Cotto who in terms of overall numbers landed more punches.
?Canelo? finished strong in the so-called championship rounds and in the eighth had Cotto in trouble but as the father/trainer of five division world champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire ? ?Dodong? Donaire correctly observed, the smaller and lighter Cotto couldn?t risk slugging it out with Alvarez and wisely stayed on survival mode by merely trying to out-box ?Canelo? which, in the end, paid off.
There was no doubt it was a closely contested bout with some rounds quite even and a little difficult to score.
However, it was clear that Alvarez won because he deserved to win, although we ourselves who keenly followed the action on television in Manila felt the three judges scorecards were ridiculous.
Dave Moretti dared give Cotto only one round in his 119-110 scorecard while Burth Clements gave the Puerto Rican champion two rounds for 118-110 and John McKae, the least known among the three turned in the more realistic 117-111 tally which translated to mean Cotto won three rounds which basically tallied with Mayweather?s sentiment that Cotto should have been credited with winning three or four rounds. We felt the same way.
What boxing fans really need to understand is that with the retirement of Mayweather and eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao, the most exciting fighter of the last decade about to hang up his gloves, Las Vegas and its boxing community needs to find a successor and ?Canelo? Alvarez is the obvious heir-apparent.
He is young, attractive, a fighter who is unafraid to exchange punches with anybody in his weight division and has a tremendous following especially among Mexicans who filled the Mandalay Bay Events Center to near capacity.
?Canelo?s bravado reflected in his post-fight comment to Gennady Golovkin who was watching at ringside that ?we can fight right now? and his subsequent statement that he is afraid of nobody, feeds into the desire of fight fans and media to listen to the words they want to hear, so the hype can continue.
It is obviously a measure to build up ?Canelo? and save the boxing industry from the inroads being made by mixed martial arts which was best reflected in the publicity surrounding Holm?s smashing victory over Rhonda Rousey who was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, weeks before their fight.
The true test will come when ? and if ? ?Canelo? Alvarez fights Gennady Golovkin and proves he is the best fighter on the planet today. Otherwise, the Las Vegas moguls will have to join hands with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the media and the bookmakers to find another flamboyant fighter in the mold of Floyd Mayweather Jr or one who draws the unadulterated adulation of a Manny Pacquiao. And that is no easy task.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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