Sport
Mayweather vs Cotto: Floyd Mayweather Jr. winner by unanimous decision
“He’s a tough competitor,” Mayweather said. “He came to fight, he didn’t just come to survive. I dug down and fought him back.”
Mayweather, who was guaranteed US$32 million, was forced to fight every minute of all 12 rounds against the Puerto Rican champion. He did it after weighing in at 151 pounds, the heaviest he has ever been for a fight.
The weight didn’t seem to affect Mayweather, and neither did the heavier 10-ounce gloves at super welterweight. But he took some punishment before coming back to dish some out in the later rounds.
“When you fight on pay-per-view you have to give the fans what they want, and that’s excitement,” Mayweather said.
Cotto came out looking slow and overmatched in the first round, but quickly settled into a routine, attacking Mayweather from behind his left jab. But Mayweather got more aggressive coming out to start the fourth round, and landed a series of rights to the head that stunned Cotto and kept him from moving forward effectively.
Mayweather fought good portions of the fight on the ropes, using them for leverage and counterpunching to Cotto’s head when he opened up. He was not only quicker than Cotto, but more accurate, often landing in between Cotto’s defenses.
“He’s ready to quit,” trainer Roger Mayweather told his nephew after the sixth round.
