Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga

Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga, billed as Relentless, was a boxing super welterweight fight for the WBA (Super) super welterweight championship.^[1]^[2] The bout was held on March 12, 2011, at MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.^[3]^[4] Cotto won the fight via technical knockout in the twelfth round.^[5]

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Cotto, a three-division world champion, won his 154-pound belt by stopping Yuri Foreman in the ninth round at Yankee Stadium in June 2010. Following the bout, the Puerto Rican pugilist underwent shoulder surgery and took the rest of 2010 off.^[6] On the other hand, Mayorga is coming from a ninth round KO win against Michael Walker in December 2010; this was the first time he fought in 27 months, after being knocked out by Shane Mosley in the twelfth round of their September 2008 match.^[6]

Background

Miguel Cotto

After the Manny Pacquiao fight, Cotto moved to the light middleweight division. On June 5, 2010, he fought against Israeli undefeated boxer Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Cotto ended up knocking Foreman down with a signature left hook to the body in the ninth round claiming the WBA light middleweight title, his fourth overall in three different weight divisions.^[7]

Ricardo Mayorga

Following the bout with Shane Mosley, Mayorga took a period of inactivity. He was scheduled to fight undefeated junior-middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo on February 14, 2009 on the undercard of Nate Campbell's title defense against Ali Funeka. Mayorga withdrew from the fight, citing injuries to his ribs from the Shane Mosley fight made training very difficult and therefore was unable to make weight. He stated money was not the issue. However, his promoter, Don King, stated that Mayorga pulled out ten days before the bout after his demands for a higher purse were not met.^[8]

On December 17, 2010, the Nicaraguan boxer fought Michael Walker and defeated him by TKO in the ninth round, ending a 27 months layoff.

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The fight

Throughout the fight, Mayorga looked to engage, however the discipline on Cotto played a big part in the win, saving his big shots for the final round. A left hook landed, which dropped Mayorga and ended the bout. At the time of stoppage, Cotto was ahead by five points on all three judges' scorecards. Compubox stats showed that Cotto out punched Mayorga 249 to 176 in total punches.

Aftermath

In the post-fight, Cotto explained how he won the fight, "The game plan was not to get caught up in any of his antics. He was very heavy handed, I felt his punches the whole fight." He also mentioned how before the last round, his trainer Emanuel Steward told him he would be able to stop Mayorga in the last round, which was the conclusion of the fight.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:^[12]