Cotto vs. Canelo 2015 results: Canelo wins middleweight belt, Miura and Vargas steal the show

It may not have done Mayweather-Pacquiao business, but the good news is that it wasn’t Mayweather-Pacquiao the actual fight. While Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez didn’t exactly light up the highlight reel in a tactical main event battle Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view, they did both come to fight, and they kept the live crowd engaged through all 12 rounds, with Alvarez ultimately emerging victorious by decision.

The scores were a bit questionable, but there’s no doubt the right man won. Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KO), the new middleweight world champion, won on scores of 117-111, 118-110, and 119-109. HBO’s Harold Lederman had it 117-111 for the 25-year-old Mexican star. SB Nation scored the fight 115-113, closer but a clear victory for Alvarez, who made a compelling argument with his power, and closed the show strong in the 12th and final round.

For Alvarez, this is the biggest win of his young career, as he knocks off a legitimate star and future Hall of Famer, Official punch stats -- which are not an exact science, mind you -- had Canelo outlanding Cotto, 155 to 129, and landing at a 32% rate, compared to just 21% for the 35-year-old Puerto Rican veteran.

But it was the power that was the real difference, as well as Alvarez’s improvements as a fighter. Whereas once Canelo seemed easily outboxed by a good technician, Cotto found it tougher to maneuver around Alvarez and find him flat footed. He and Freddie Roach seemed to design a game plan that took parts of what Floyd Mayweather did against Canelo in 2013, and what Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara used to varying degrees of success, in the hope that Alvarez would not have made real improvements, and there was good reason for that. Toe-to-toe, they knew Alvarez was bigger, younger, and stronger, that he had deceptively fast hands and placed his punches very well, that he throws in combination and can take a good shot.

Alvarez, though, has matured and simply become a better fighter, and Cotto’s boxing, while somewhat successful, never gave him any big edge, as he and his corner hoped that it would. And when Cotto did get in close to trade with Canelo, he got in trouble, and was hurt a few times, forced to retreat. Cotto never backed Canelo down, but Canelo backed Cotto down consistently when he landed with power shots to the head and body.

Alvarez also largely took away the vaunted left hook of Cotto, the punch that was once his calling card and that he seemed to lose in the middle of his career. Working with Roach, the aggression and the hook to the body came back for Cotto in wins over Delvin Rodriguez, a broken-down Sergio Martinez, and Daniel Geale. But Canelo was a tougher nut to crack, and his right hands gave Cotto some serious pause about using the hook. Once again, we saw Miguel Cotto without the presence of the left hook, and it was clear that something vital was missing.

That said, Cotto did well in the fight, all things considered, and stayed competitive throughout. He was able to win some rounds (or at least appeared to win some rounds) by sticking and moving, utilizing a solid jab and, unusual for him, a decent lead right hand. Cotto, though, has never been a right-hand puncher, and once Alvarez had taken enough of Cotto’s shots, he knew that Cotto couldn’t do a lot to hurt him. At that point, Canelo was able to bite down and throw with a bit more abandon, using his natural size to his advantage. In the end, that was the real difference. Canelo could hurt Cotto, and the same wasn’t true on the other end.

The fight that may last longer in our memories came on the undercard, as Francisco “Bandido” Vargas won his first world title in a punishing action fight, unseating WBC super featherweight champion Takashi Miura of Japan via ninth-round stoppage. Miura (29-3-2, 22 KO) was making his U.S. debut, and the southpaw slugger was as advertised. Though he was hurt by Vargas in the opening round, on a shot that might have knocked out a lot of other super featherweights, he battled back and dropped Vargas hard in round four.

From there, Vargas seemed a bit out of the fight, though there was still the sense that he could turn the fight around. While eating straight lefts from Miura, Vargas (23-0-1, 17 KO) was able to weather the storm, for the most part, even as he developed cuts both under and over his right eye, which was nearly shut when he was hurt badly again late in the eighth round. Miura couldn’t find the right combination to finish Vargas off there, though, and the round ended, giving Vargas the chance to recover and rebound, which he did.

Vargas crushed Miura with a vicious right hand early in round nine, and followed that with two more flush shots to the head that put Miura on the canvas. Though he got up and fought on bravely, he took a lot more clean shots in the follow-up, which forced referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight. It was a classic boxing rally, and the fight’s drama reminded us of why we watch boxing. When it’s great, it’s really great.

The same can’t be said for the performance of Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0, 10 KO) tonight, though. Newly signed with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports -- who also promotes Cotto and Andre Ward, who was to fight on this card prior to injuring himself in camp -- Rigondeaux had a chance to come in and make a new statement. His old promoters at Top Rank pretty much abandoned him after he convincingly beat Nonito Donaire in 2013, giving him two more fights and claiming that HBO executives “threw up” at the mention of his name.

And while the Cuban, a bona fide amateur legend, has never exactly been an exciting fighter to watch, tonight was a new low. Though he handily won his bout with Drian Francisco (28-4-2, 22 KO) over 10 rounds, Rigondeaux did so while landing a measly seven punches per round, drawing massive boos from the crowd in attendance, and the arena wasn’t even full at that point. There’s no question that Rigondeaux is one of the most skilled fighters in boxing today, but ultimately this is as much an entertainment business as it is a sport, and Rigondeaux just does not provide entertainment. Still, there is some reason to give him some slack for this one. He hadn’t fought in 11 months due to managerial issues, and he also took this fight on a week’s notice. As much as anything, this was a high-paying sparring outing for Rigondeaux. If or when he gets back on an HBO broadcast, Rigondeaux will hopefully face someone who can actually test him and make him really show his skill. Tonight was just cruise control, and to be frank, it sucked to watch.

The pay-per-view opener saw a mild upset, as Ronny Rios (25-1, 10 KO) knocked off previously unbeaten Jayson Velez (23-1-1, 16 KO) via 10-round unanimous decision. It was just 13 months ago that Rios, 25, looked lousy in a fifth round TKO loss to Robinson Castellanos, but that off night clearly is not representative of his overall talent. Velez, 27, fought then-titleholder Evgeny Gradovich to a draw a year ago, but looked outclassed at times by Rios, who has never been a power hitter but looked like the far stronger, sharper puncher in this fight. This is a big win for Rios that puts him in the mix at 126 pounds.