Mayweather Vs. Cotto: Money Earns Unanimous Decision Win

Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao is “the fight” for boxing. It’s the one that gets the conversation going, no matter how big of a boxing fan someone is. And it’s the fight that everyone wants to talk about yet again on the heels of Floyd’s tremendous win over Miguel Cotto this past Saturday.

“It HAS to happen! It WILL happen!” fans and media shout. But no, unfortunately it does not have to happen and it almost certainly will not happen. It should happen. But the very money that everyone claims makes the fight “worth it” for the fighters is why it’s not worth it to the fighters or promoters. Years of fighting without losing and making a lot of money each time out with the claim of being the “real” best pound-for-pound fighter outweigh one fight that would involve working with hated rivals and significantly diminishing the value of the loser.

With a thrilling victory over Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather’s next challenge will be outside the ring, as he’s set to serve an 87-day jail sentence at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. Mayweather has to report to the Detention Center in less than a month on June 1.

The sentence stems from a domestic violence incident nearly two years ago, when he allegedly attacked his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children Josie Harris. With charges initially calling for maximum 34-year prison sentence, Mayweather entered a plea of no contest on two harassment charges and reached a plea bargain for a reduced domestic violence charge that resulted in the 87-day sentence.

On the undercard of the HBO pay-per-view for Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez took another step forward in his development by dominating the faded “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

Alvarez was able to land heavy power shots throughout the fight, pushing Mosley back and hurting him repeatedly but never being able to drop him and get the knockout. Canelo also had to deal with the first cut of his career, a nasty opening over his left eye coming off an accidental headbutt early in the fight. It turned out not to bother the 21-year-old, undefeated Mexican fighter as he continued to come forward with heavy leather.

The immediate aftermath of any boxing fight is always a bit strange. Guys who were attempting to kill each other for more than half an hour instantly become venerated competitors, and the fog of politics and fame that clouds the sport descends once more after lifting for moments. The wake of Floyd Mayweather’s unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto is no different: answers are scarce, but questions are not. Here are five questions the casual boxing fan might be wondering about this morning, and the best answers we’ve got.

Few people gave Cotto a chance to do much damage against the defensive wizard, despite his exceptional punch accuracy, and although he took a few rounds from Mayweather and made him bleed his own blood, Cotto really was never in position to win the fight. Mayweather didn’t deal Cotto any blows of consequence, either, never knocking him down and showing only a bit of power while fighting up at a weight he’s unused to, but he got a win and gave fans a fight that was worth their time and money.

I should start by pointing out just how nice it is to have nothing but good things to say after a boxing pay-per-view involving either Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao for once. In Mayweather’s last fight he knocked out Victor Ortiz while Victor appeared to be having some sort of mental breakdown and before that it was his drubbing of a lifeless Shane Mosley and then not even bothering to make weight before beating up on the far-too-small Juan Manuel Marquez.

Pacquiao’s last fight, against Marquez, was great action, but for the third time it seemed like the judges gave Manny some questionable scoring to give him the win and before that he too engaged in punishing the shell of Shane Mosley and post-handwrap controversy Antonio Margarito.

Miguel Cotto put in a spirited effort against Floyd Mayweather, forcing the undefeated Mayweather to actually step up and brawl at times rather than coast on his pure athletic gifts. It was a refreshing moment where a major boxing pay-per-view delivered action without controversy.

We explained how the fight went briefly in the immediate moments after the 117-111, 118-110 and 117-111 scorecards were read:

It wasn’t exactly a shock when Floyd Mayweather said that he wants to finally get a fight with Manny Pacquiao made following his great win in a tough fight over Miguel Cotto. It also wasn’t a surprise when Floyd evaded actually answering the question when HBO’s Larry Merchant asked if he would be willing to budge on his prior statements that he wouldn’t give Manny a 50/50 purse split.

The fact that Floyd isn’t likely to ever agree to a 50/50 split with anyone, and Top Rank, Manny’s promoter, isn’t likely to ever agree to anything less, is going to always stand in the way of that fight. And if it isn’t the 50/50 split, it’ll be something else.

Miguel Cotto came out and put on a hell of a show in his HBO pay-per-view bout with Floyd Mayweather, being the first man to really test Floyd for any sustained amount of time since Mayweather fought Jose Luis Castillo twice in 2002.

Cotto was able to trap Floyd against the ropes much of the fight and dig to the body, and eventually that opened up hard shots to the head that did draw blood from the nose of “Money.” But in the end, it was Mayweather’s ability to get his hard right hands, uppercuts and jabs in with enough regularity to take most of the fight.

Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto came out for the final round of their HBO pay-per-view fight having put on a hell of a show, standing toe to toe, throwing hard punches back and forth.

Cotto was almost certainly down on the cards coming in, but he had made a case for far more rounds than almost anyone gave him a chance to take heading in to the evening. Cotto did go back to the body, Floyd returned a right hand and hook. Floyd lands a hard punch that wobbles Cotto badly but Miguel was able to recover a bit.

Floyd Mayweather asked his corner if he was winning the fight before the eleventh round against Miguel Cotto. This was unbelievable given how easy fights have been for Floyd’s career, so him asking if he was winning speaks to the effort Cotto was giving.

Cotto came out and did get inside again and tried to work inside again, landing a left hand against the ropes. Mayweather looked to get back outside and circle his way to be able to jab and land right hands. Cotto trapped him against the ropes again and landed a hard combination, which Mayweather met with a combination of his own.

Miguel Cotto came out needing to make some big moves over the final three rounds of his bout with Floyd Mayweather. To do so, he looked to get inside and go to the body as he had during his best rounds of the fight.

Mayweather looked to work the lead hand while Cotto tried to get in and did do a little body work. Cotto was able to do the work he needed in the first half of the round and pushed Mayweather into the ropes yet again but Floyd spun out. Hard left hand lands for Cotto as Floyd was going backward.

Floyd Mayweather came out with a good right hand early in the ninth round of his fight with Miguel Cotto, knowing he couldn’t allow a repeat of the eight round that saw Cotto do great work.

Mayweather went back to hard right hands and uppercuts while Cotto wasn’t really able to get the room to work for the first half of the round before he landed a big left hand. Mayweather eventually allowed himself to get trapped against the ropes. Cotto with a big left hand against the ropes and Mayweather with a hard shot of his own before having return shots by Cotto fired back.

Miguel Cotto was able to push Floyd Mayweather back into the ropes early in the eight round of their fight with Floyd firing hard shots back. Cotto got off some good shots to the body and head. Cotto worked very well to the body this round, as Floyd tried to push off the ropes, Miguel forced him back.

Floyd landed a left hook and an uppercut and does it again but Cotto wouldn’t let him off the ropes. Mayweather has done a very good job of starting to rely on the uppercut a bit more, but Cotto fired several body shots and a hard punch to the head to follow.

Round seven saw Miguel Cotto looking to take over the fight a little bit as Mayweather faded a bit from the body work. Floyd appeared to still be up in the fight, but Cotto was making him fight the whole way though. Cotto was also able to pick off Floyd’s punches with his gloves with a bit more reliability.

Cotto worked Floyd back to the ropes at one point and dug hard to the body twice. Floyd came back with a nice three punch flurry of his own before Cotto backed him off with a jab. Floyd kept popping with the jab a bit more as Cotto tried to push him back to the ropes.

The HBO pay-per-view main event fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto saw round six unfold much the same as the previous rounds. Cotto was able to land some good shots, including a solid jab that continued to have blood coming out of the nose of Floyd.

Mayweather was able to still do decent work, but Cotto got in a hard shot of his own as Floyd tried to get out of the way of a shot. Floyd has started to try to be the one coming forward now, jabbing and firing the right hand. Floyd is starting to look tired though, possibly because he’s not fully comfortable and possibly because of Cotto’s dedication to body punching.

Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto continued their fight into the fifth round with Cotto needing to do something big and change how Floyd was fighting. Cotto attempted to do that by pushing Floyd into the ropd s and working him over there. For the most part, it was Mayweather managing to be the one landing the bigger shots.

Cotto continued to try to dirty it up on the inside, but the slickness of Floyd defensively and his right hand were the story of the fight. Cotto landed a thudding left and refused to back down. Cotto opened with combinations and tried to keep making Mayweather fight and Floyd’s punches did look a little bit more like arm punches by the time the bell rang.

In round four of the HBO pay-per-view bout between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, the two superstars were competing in a good action fight. HBO’s Lederman had the fight a shutout for Mayweather to this point. Mayweather started to land the hard right hands early in the round, stinging Cotto a little bit. The overhand rights were coming also for Floyd and Cotto stopped moving forward for a bit.

The momentum seemed to be changing this round with Cotto having far less effectiveness while Floyd was getting his power shots in at a higher clip. Cotto did do a little work against the ropes again later in the round but he was at a significant disadvantage in terms of power shots in the round, making for the easiest round to call of the fight to this point.

In the third round of the HBO pay-per-view main event fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, it began to shape up to be a good bout. Cotto was able to get off a jab early and keep trying to defend the head and work to the body. Mayweather was able to return a counter right hand off the Cotto body work though. Cotto did a good job of trapping Floyd against the ropes again this round.

Cotto had a good moment of taking a right to the body and then going right upstairs with it and a hard jab as well. Another hard jab by Cotto was met with a right hand by Floyd. The jab continued working as the round went on for Cotto and he did mix in a right hand also.

The rumors were swirling around the Internets like wildfire for days leading up to the much-anticipated Cinco de Mayo showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto. Would Justin Bieber be in Mayweather’s entourage? Wouldn’t he? Why would he in the first place? Mayweather is known as being one of the athletes with the most “street cred,” but with Bieber in tow, would that be threatened?

That last point remains to be seen, but, along with 50 Cent, who was by Money’s side when he took on Victor Ortiz last year, Bieber was there in all his moussed-hair splendor. Picture via @jose3030:

Round two of the HBO pay-per-view main event fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto had Cotto needing to do a little bit better than he had in the opening frame. An interesting moment transpired with Cotto and Mayweather locking up and Cotto lifting him well off the ground before setting him down and patting him on the head.

Mayweather was looking to land looping overhand rights in the round, rather than a continued reliance on the jab/straight right. Cotto was able to keep Floyd against the ropes and actually do good work to the body and head. Floyd returned fire with power shots of his own, making for a better action fight than most Mayweather fights. Cotto had a nice left hand but he needs to focus on the body going forward.

The HBO pay-per-view main event fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto kicked off with an opening round that saw Cotto looking to come out and take the center of the ring while Floyd, calm as ever, looked to pop out his quick punches and stay on the outside, controlling the moments of engagement. Floyd’s jab was working well early in the round, and he did try to start getting his right hand lead working as well.

Cotto did land occasional punches to the body and head but there was a clear speed differential with Floyd being much more quick. Mayweather’s quick punches were likely enough to win the round, but at the end of the round, Cotto landed a nice three punch combination with Floyd against the ropes. Not the mismatch some expected, but still a Mayweather round.

“Sugar” Shane Mosley was non-committal after his loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez when pushed on if he would retire from the sport of boxing. He explained that “when the kids start to beat you up, it might be time to start promoting.” He also gave Alvarez credit as being “the better man” on the night.

Mosley made it clear that he still needed to look at the fight before making a decision, but his eyes seemed to tell a different story. He looked profoundly sad while speaking to HBO’s Larry Merchant about the way the fight went down. He certainly took a lot of punishment over his career and has slowed down considerably over the last five years.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez came in to his fight with “Sugar” Shane Mosley as a heavy favorite looking to add a win over a big name to his resume. For Mosley, it was an attempt to prove that he still had something left and could compete at the highest levels of the sport after a string of disappointing performances.

Mosley came out early wanting to establish his jab while Canelo circled, attempting to figure out his timing before landing a hard jab to get his own offense rolling. Mosley looked quite slow to react defensively to the strikes of his foe. Canelo did crack him in the first with a big left, and Mosley tried to come back with his own flurry, but it was an opening frame devoid of much sustained action or success. The blueprint for the fight appeared to be laid out early, with Canelo looking to pick his spots while Mosley walked forward sticking out his jabs.

Stephen Curry wants to watch Floyd Mayweather fight Miguel Cotto, but he is lacking some vital information ... and modern technology.

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Steve Forbes came into his bout against Jessie Vargas on the undercard of the HBO pay-per-view for Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto as a late replacement. Faded from his peak, when he was a title challenger level opponent, Forbes had a big uphill battle in front of him.

That battle was made clear late in the first round when Vargas turned up his aggression, while Forbes, the very heavy underdog, spent the flurries on the defensive. Vargas controlled the action with an accurate jab while continuing to avoid return shots from Forbes, either moving out of the way or picking off the punches with his gloves.