First off it was a great card with the exception of the Rigo fight.
Ronnie Rios vs Jason Velez
Great back and forth fight, until I thought Rios started getting the better of Velez in the middle to later rounds. I thought his boxing was surprisingly better, was more accurate and landed the clearly harder shots. I thought he broke Velez in that fight. Great win for him and I like what I saw.
Rigo vs Francisco
I will be the first to say I love this sport, and don't want to see a brawl every time out BUT.....Watching Rigo fight is like watching old people play golf while drinking mint juleps. 72 punches landed in the FIGHT! The entire fight! Rigo doesn't want to engage, doesn't want to entertain, he does barely enough to win rounds and it's hard to stay awake while he's doing this.
A Loma fight would be great, but he's already said he doesn't want that. So where does he go? I'm not sure because nobody is going to pay to see this guy fight.
Vargas vs Miura
Now this is boxing, wow! What a fight, what heart, what will and determination. Miura showed an incredible chin as he was getting hammered in the first 3 rounds and then seemed to take over the fight. When he knocked Vargas down and split him open even wider, I thought it was over. Vargas showed why we love Mexican fighters and I can't believe the come back he had. FOTY? I think so, and maybe best fight in many years to be honest. Vargas deserves to be champ, and hats off to Miura as he showed why he is a champion. We love Mexico vs PR but Mexico vs Japan has brought us some great one's as well.
Cotto vs Canelo
I have read a lot of silly things regarding this fight and I have now watched it twice. First off, Cotto is a very skilled and experienced fighter, who is a veteran and great champion. He moved very well, used the jab well at times but I scored the fight 116-112 for Canelo and here's why.
One of the things people complained about was that Canelo has no footwork, this is nonsense. He's not Willie Pep, but he has great fundamentals and is a very good instinctual fighter. He's always on balance, and always in position to throw hard shots. His defense from early on to now has grown in leaps and bounds. His head movement, slips and counters are impressive and you can tell once he gained confidence, he was slowly taking command of the fight.
Cotto has his moments but I think his inability to land the jab consistently (he landed it more against Mayweather) limited him. That's his money punch, and that shot sets up everything else. Canelo's team trained to stop the left hook, and he did. Cotto landed very few left hooks, and when he did they were partially blocked. Cotto did do some good body work though.
On the other hand, Canelo landed well with the lead hand, including uppercuts and left hooks both on top and to the body. The right hand was also key for Canelo and was landing it over Cotto's jab. I was surprised because Cotto has a great jab and I think it showed the difference in speed between the two.
They were very competitive rounds, but I think the pressure and the hard shots were the difference for me. Cotto was just not that effective and we need to remember this is professional boxing. It's about landing hard shots, bringing the fight to your opponent and I thought Canelo did that.
I also think that Canelo respected Cotto too much. I have always said that Canelo isn't a come forward ****er, he's a counter puncher by trade. If he applied more pressure, and let his hands go more, I think he could have stopped Cotto. In the last 2 rounds we saw a little of that but he isn't one to take chances, it's not in his nature.
Anyway good card, good fights and I don't think Cotto lost anything and I think Canelo gained a lot. I believe that a lot of people realized Canelo is better and more skilled than people think. Now GGG is another animal all together, but I think it will be a better fight than people think. Let's remember Canelo is all of 25 years old, he's learned a lot and come a long way.
Ronnie Rios vs Jason Velez
Great back and forth fight, until I thought Rios started getting the better of Velez in the middle to later rounds. I thought his boxing was surprisingly better, was more accurate and landed the clearly harder shots. I thought he broke Velez in that fight. Great win for him and I like what I saw.
Rigo vs Francisco
I will be the first to say I love this sport, and don't want to see a brawl every time out BUT.....Watching Rigo fight is like watching old people play golf while drinking mint juleps. 72 punches landed in the FIGHT! The entire fight! Rigo doesn't want to engage, doesn't want to entertain, he does barely enough to win rounds and it's hard to stay awake while he's doing this.
A Loma fight would be great, but he's already said he doesn't want that. So where does he go? I'm not sure because nobody is going to pay to see this guy fight.
Vargas vs Miura
Now this is boxing, wow! What a fight, what heart, what will and determination. Miura showed an incredible chin as he was getting hammered in the first 3 rounds and then seemed to take over the fight. When he knocked Vargas down and split him open even wider, I thought it was over. Vargas showed why we love Mexican fighters and I can't believe the come back he had. FOTY? I think so, and maybe best fight in many years to be honest. Vargas deserves to be champ, and hats off to Miura as he showed why he is a champion. We love Mexico vs PR but Mexico vs Japan has brought us some great one's as well.
Cotto vs Canelo
I have read a lot of silly things regarding this fight and I have now watched it twice. First off, Cotto is a very skilled and experienced fighter, who is a veteran and great champion. He moved very well, used the jab well at times but I scored the fight 116-112 for Canelo and here's why.
One of the things people complained about was that Canelo has no footwork, this is nonsense. He's not Willie Pep, but he has great fundamentals and is a very good instinctual fighter. He's always on balance, and always in position to throw hard shots. His defense from early on to now has grown in leaps and bounds. His head movement, slips and counters are impressive and you can tell once he gained confidence, he was slowly taking command of the fight.
Cotto has his moments but I think his inability to land the jab consistently (he landed it more against Mayweather) limited him. That's his money punch, and that shot sets up everything else. Canelo's team trained to stop the left hook, and he did. Cotto landed very few left hooks, and when he did they were partially blocked. Cotto did do some good body work though.
On the other hand, Canelo landed well with the lead hand, including uppercuts and left hooks both on top and to the body. The right hand was also key for Canelo and was landing it over Cotto's jab. I was surprised because Cotto has a great jab and I think it showed the difference in speed between the two.
They were very competitive rounds, but I think the pressure and the hard shots were the difference for me. Cotto was just not that effective and we need to remember this is professional boxing. It's about landing hard shots, bringing the fight to your opponent and I thought Canelo did that.
I also think that Canelo respected Cotto too much. I have always said that Canelo isn't a come forward ****er, he's a counter puncher by trade. If he applied more pressure, and let his hands go more, I think he could have stopped Cotto. In the last 2 rounds we saw a little of that but he isn't one to take chances, it's not in his nature.
Anyway good card, good fights and I don't think Cotto lost anything and I think Canelo gained a lot. I believe that a lot of people realized Canelo is better and more skilled than people think. Now GGG is another animal all together, but I think it will be a better fight than people think. Let's remember Canelo is all of 25 years old, he's learned a lot and come a long way.
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