Canelo Alvarez beat Miguel Cotto on a unanimous points decision to win the WBC world middleweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Alvarez, the pre-fight favourite, lived up to his billing with a powerful display at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, and took his career record to 46-1-1, with 32 KOs.
After a relatively even contest early on, the Mexican established his dominance over the Puerto Rican with a devastating series of blows in the eighth round.
All three judges agreed Alvarez had won the contest comfortably, awarding him between nine and 11 of the 12 rounds.
Cotto, who lost for just the fifth time in 45 career fights, was stripped of the WBC world title earlier in the week after refusing to pay the reported $300,000 sanctioning fee the organisation demanded.
Freddie Roach, Miguel Cotto's trainer, said after the fight.
"We thought it was much closer than the scorecards showed. It was a very competitive fight. Miguel's defense was unbelievable. I actually thought we outscored him. HBO spoke to me between rounds and I never thought we were in danger of losing the fight. I thought we outscored him in the fight, but the judges thought different."


