Floyd Mayweather
Though they both suffered the same result – a decision loss – to Floyd, the performances of Cotto and Alvarez against the unbeaten America differed greatly.
In 2012, Cotto gave Mayweather arguably his toughest fight to date, stalking ‘Money’ for 12 rounds, launching in with quick bursts. He backed Floyd onto the ropes several times and bloodied his nose – a rare occurrence. Although he won on every card, Mayweather had been in a fight. So much so that he decided to bring his father, Floyd Snr, back into the fold to further improve his defence.
The following year, Mayweather and Alvarez smashed box office and pay-per-view records with their Las Vegas showdown. Bigger, younger and unbeaten, Alvarez was set to be a serious threat to Mayweather’s pound-for-pound reign. Instead, he ended up being dominated. Floyd was able to dictate the pace and even backed Alvarez up at times, displaying aggression he had not drawn on for years. The Mexican looked befuddled and was never really in the fight.
Better performance: Miguel Cotto
