On November 21st the world of boxing will stop, for what promises to be an almost guaranteed electric fight between the middleweight fighting prides of Mexico and Puerto Rico. Lets analyze the 5 Cotto and Canelo common opponents each man has faced to date.
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The young lion of Mexico, Canelo Alvarez, will bid to dethrone the long established pride of Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto – who’s WBC world middleweight title will be on the line.
Both men will enter the ring in excellent form, but not many realize they’ve both faced off against five shared adversaries over the years.
We thought it would be an interesting exercise to dig these names up, and see who were the Cotto and Canelo common opponents shared, how both men stacked up and – who outperformed who.
So here goes:
Floyd Mayweather
The most difficult foe faced by both men, easily.
Canelo to many spectators’ surprise, opted to go with a more boxing type strategy as opposed to what many expected before the fight to be a more pressure type game plan. The result wasn’t too good for him – never try to outbox Floyd Mayweather.
Cotto on the other hand, went for both a tactical and energized plan of attack, that had Mayweather on the back foot at times (even bleeding from the nose at one point). Although Cotto ultimately lost the decision, many felt he gave Mayweather one of the toughest fights of his career.
1-0 Miguel Cotto
Shane Mosley
This common opponent could be argued as a very close one in terms of who did better, as neither fighter faced a prime “Sugar” Shane Mosely, to be fair.
When Canelo faced Mosley in 2012, the American boxing great was 40 years of age and really in the twilight of his career. Canelo boxed very well to beat Mosley in a quite mature performance from the young warrior, but Mosley it has to be said was a spent force compared to what he used to be.
Cotto faced Mosley five years prior to that however, and at 35 was much closer to his prime, He gave Cotto all he could handle at times in a really cracking fight.
Miguel Cotto got the decision in a tough fight, but I give the edge to the man from Puerto Rico on this one, as he faced a much fresher Mosley and really had to dig in deep to get the win.
2-0 Miguel Cotto
Austin Trout
Trout was the only man on this list to beat one of the fighters but not the other, so perhaps a more simple choice here.
When Cotto squared off with Trout in 2012, he was coming off the back of the Floyd Mayweather loss and looked very under par, perhaps struggling at the weight. It showed in his performance. The rangier, more active southpaw Trout did enough to get the nod on the night via the scorecards.
Trout also gave Canelo a good test at times, although on this occasion lost the fight. Canelo dropped Trout for the first time in his career, and showed some variations in his game defensively that hadn’t been seen to that point to give him a well earned points victory. Canelo wins this shared opponent better performance, hands down.
2-1 Miguel Cotto
Lovemore Ndou
Neither man could crack this ultra hard nut inside the distance. The former two-time world champion from South Africa took both protagonists the full duration.
When Canelo took on Ndou in 2015 at 154lbs, Lovemore at 39 years of age, was past his best it must be said. Canelo grew into the fight round by round, using his youth, strength and energy to his advantage. This saw him beat an old and over the hill Lovemore Ndou in a mildly impressive victory, to be fair.
Before Cotto ever got his first crack at a world title shot, he had a very competitive encounter with Ndou (in his prime) in a fairly entertaining fight at the time. His superior work rate was enough to get him the decision on the night in a grueling affair. Out of the two, I’d probably just give Cotto the edge here.
3-1 Miguel Cotto
Alfonso Gomez
There’s really not much the split the two here.
When Cotto faced Gomez he really delivered an almighty beating on him, in truth. Brutal head and body shots were enough to see Gomez dropped three times, on route to a vintage Cotto 6th round TKO win – that helped him defend his WBA welterweight title back in 2008.
Alvarez took on a slightly older and definitely more shop worn Gomez in 2011, and although he got the win in the same round as Cotto, was asked questions of at times in the early rounds. Nonetheless he did what he had to do and his power shun through in the end.
I’d give the better performance to Cotto in this one (by a fraction mind you). It appears Miguel Cotto has won this debate on my cards, for better performances over shared opponents.
Of course this may have no bearing whatsoever on the fight, we just thought it would be an interesting exercise to put together – hope you enjoyed.
Final Score: 4-1 Miguel Cotto
(Image credit: Golden Boy Promotions and YouTube)
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