Maybe one of the final PPVs ever, heh. I think the stink of Mayweather-Pacquiao has influenced that medium, but Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto are both stars, and have provided action in the past, so this should sell.
When you get into the politics and weight classes it IS a bit odd, as Boxing is our most odd sport:
* the weight for this fight is 155 lbs.
* Canelo Alvarez has been fairly exclusively a Jr. Middleweight (154lbs) and cornered that (pretty shallow) division until losing to Mayweather. I think technically Mayweather was still the Ring champ there until this latest 'retirement'
* Miguel Cotto started at 140lbs but did most of his damage at Welterweight then steadily moved up to Jr. Middle, where even there he's a bit small (and smaller than Canelo)
* In his second to last fight, Cotto beat Sergio Martinez at a 158.5lb catchweight. And doing so made him Ring (and THEEEE) Middleweight (160lbs) champion of the world. It's a true lineage, here. Bernard Hopkins -> Jermain Taylor -> Kelly Pavlik -> Paul Williams -> Martinez -> Cotto.
* You may have read this week that the WBC Middleweight belt was effectively stripped from Cotto. NOT because of this catchweight stuff, but because he wouldn't pay a $300k sanctioning fee. To which he's a great person for telling them to screw, and doesn't matter in the least. You may hear about it though.
So it's for the Middleweight championship, without a belt, and the actual weigh-in is 5 pounds under the limit. So yeah it's strange. but nobody is gaining an advantage with the catchweight so it's not that bothersome. I would expect if Canelo wins to begin the next step of his career at Middleweight, he's just a bigger dude and I think he's outgrown even Jr. Middle. If Cotto wins it's less clear since he's just a smaller guy at that weight...but the beauty of being Cotto (or Canelo for that matter) is they can choose who they fight. It's cool they chose eachother here.
The undercard really doesn't have much to offer in terms of importance, but hopefully there's good action. From what I've read there are two somewhat even matchups. And then another fight that is more of a showcase, as Guillermo Rigeondeaux was a late addition and has been out of the ring forever with promotional issues so they did not match him very tough. He has a rep for being boring, but he's one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world so he should at least look good tonight.
I want to pick the upset win for Cotto tonight but I'm skeptical that he can really hurt Canelo and keep him from coming on. I think Canelo gets a close but obvious decision nod.
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