Mexico's Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 knockouts) defeated Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) by unanimous decision Saturday night at Mandalay Bay to claim the WBC middleweight title.

Alvarez, who was more aggressive than usual, was able to dominate most of the rounds with his heavy punches and uppercuts. Cotto, 35, tried to outbox the younger Alvarez, 25, but was often on the short end of exchanges.

The judges scored it: 117-111 (John McKaie), 119-109 (Burt Clements) and 118-110 (Dave Moretti). The referee was Robert Byrd.

Cotto (40-5, 33 KO) fought well, but was at times overmatched by the younger, bigger, stronger Alvarez's power, and that made the real difference in the bout. While Cotto couldn't seem to back Canelo down at any point, Alvarez could hurt Cotto, and did so a few times. Canelo also seemed to have made some real improvements, and Cotto's attempts to move laterally and outbox Canelo were not as successful as he and trainer Freddie Roach may have hoped.

Alvarez is reportedly being ordered by the WBC to fight Gennady Golovkin next, and supposedly has to make that deal within the next 15 days. Golovkin owns the WBA, IBF and IBO middleweight titles.

But for now, Canelo's coming off of the biggest win of his career, and has established himself as a new superstar for the sport of boxing.

The win for Canelo makes him the new lineal middleweight champion in addition to the WBC middleweight. 

-

Follow Joy Sports on Twitter: @Joy997FM. Our hashtag is #JoySports