The WBA Light Middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14) scored by far the biggest win of his career so far as he impressively out-pointed future hall of famer Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30). The fight, between two very classy fighters was not an out and out war, though was a thoroughly entertaining bout from start to end.
The opening round was fought as a high paced chess match that really set the stage for the bout with Trout's jab being fired time and time again towards Cotto's face with straight lefts to the body following as Trout used his speed and reach well. It was using those two shots that Trout clearly won the opening two rounds however Cotto tried to change the pattern of the fight over the following rounds and started to bring the pressure in the following rounds. Despite getting more success when he was coming Cotto was starting to walk on to hurtful shots that really started to mark up Cotto's face.
Although the crowd cheered loudly when Cotto had some success in the middle rounds they simply couldn't do enough to lift Cotto who was too small and didn't have the power to force Trout out of his comfort zone. In fact it was Trout's power that seemed to be telling with his right hooks landing time and time around the guard of Cotto and he also seemed to buzz Cotto a few times in latter rounds as he started to roar ahead on the cards. And although several rounds had been competitive it just seemed that Trout was bagging more rounds than Cotto.
Sadly for Cotto the youth of Trout seemed to be too much and the champion started to easily out work the challenger down the stretch who could only fight in bursts as the combination of age and being hit in the body took their toll on Cotto. The "freshness" was most evident in round 11 as Cotto was tagged time and time again in arguably Trout's strongest round of the fight as he attempted to silence the raucous Cotto fans.
At the end of the 12th round it was obvious who thought they had won as Trout and his team celebrated whilst Cotto looked somewhat dejected. The gamblers on betfair seemed to also know which way the cards were going as Trout's odds shrunk suddenly after the final bell. However there was some doubt, Cotto is a huge draw and some thought may have swayed the judges, if anything however it did the opposite with Trout claiming a clear unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 (twice) and 119-109. Although I had Trout as a clear winner in a competitive fight (116-112) it does appear that at least 1 judge was harsh on the legendary Miguel Cotto.
After the fight Trout called out Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, though in all honesty, Trout is unlikely to get that fight as he is far too tricky and too naturally big for the limited Alvarez. Instead expect Golden Boy to make Trout jump through hoops for the bout. For Cotto however this could be the end. The Puerto Rican hero was asked by Jim Gray if he would fight again and he replied with "Probably" though in all honesty, it'll be more of a case of "Probably...if the money is right".
No comments:
Post a Comment