Last night I had to admit a gross overestimation I made of the shape ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley would be in and a gross underestimate of Saul Alvarez’s defense. Unlike my prediction, Mosley was not able to capitalize on Alvarez’s vulnerability to being hit and he also faded fast when Alvarez connected on him freely throughout their WBC light-middleweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, NV. Also, I have to admit my prediction that Mosley would hit Alvarez from angles and win the fight was influenced by a sentimentality that makes me want to see the great fighter perform the way he did when he was considered the best in the world at any weight. I asserted that his last two losses, first to Floyd Mayweather and second to Manny Pacquiao, were against the two best fighters in the world and that Alvarez was a major step down. I still believe that Alvarez is a step down from both of those opponents, but he proved to me last night that the step was not so far as I perceived. He proved himself to be an excellent champion with a bright future on the elite world class level. At the tender age of 21 he is now ready to cash in on his power and skill even more than he did last night.
Miguel Cotto fought a great fight against Floyd Mayweather last night. The only problem for Cotto in defending his WBA light middleweight title is that Mayweather fought a greater fight. (The fight was also for the vacant WBC Diamond light middleweight title) Mayweather’s shoulder roll defense just seems to be too sharp for even the elite world class to neutralize. But Cotto pounded his body and was able to bloody his nose for a good portion of the fight, the blood trickling till the closing bell. Still, Mayweather was able to minimize the damage Cotto inflicted and also land more punches throughout, bruising Cotto’s face. Particularly, Mayweather landed good right hands to the head early in the fight. He was able to bring the punch around Cotto’s left hand, but then Cotto held his hand a little further back and stopped the punches. However, as Cotto continuously charged in, pinned Mayweather against the ropes and roughed him up, Mayweather made an adjustment that impressed commentator Emmanuel Steward by turning the left uppercut to Cotto’s head inside. No matter how well Cotto did and no matter how many punches he was able to land, Mayweather was able to make him miss just enough and to land more punches himself. No, Mayweather did not look as good against Cotto as he has against other opponents, but that says more about the quality of Cotta as a fighter than it does about any lack of performance on Mayweather’s part. It does present an obvious question, though, which is how well will Mayweather do against Manny Pacquiao if they do in fact fight. Obviously, that is still the biggest fight at this point in history for the world to see. Hopefully it will.
By Mark Connor
© Copyright 2012, Mark Connor
