Floyd Mayweather Jr extended his unbeaten record to 43-0 with a hard-earned unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto on 5 May 2012 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The bout, billed as Ring Kings, saw Mayweather capture the WBA (Super) super welterweight championship in what proved to be one of the most demanding contests of his glittering career.

Cotto entered as defending champion, fresh from his revenge triumph over Antonio Margarito, and determined to assert himself at 154 pounds. Mayweather, stepping into the ring at a career-heaviest 151 lbs, was seeking his second title in the division after previously outpointing Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. With the failed negotiations for a super-fight against Manny Pacquiao lingering in the background, this match carried heightened intrigue for fans eager to see Mayweather tested.

The opening rounds showcased the familiar Mayweather rhythm – fast counters, precise footwork and defensive mastery. Yet from the third round onwards, Cotto pressed forward with authority, pinning the American to the ropes and letting combinations fly. The Puerto Rican champion’s jab and body work disrupted Mayweather’s flow, and by the middle rounds the favourite’s nose was bloodied – a rare sight for a man accustomed to avoiding damage.

Despite Cotto’s relentless drive, Mayweather’s adaptability told. Working off the ropes, he landed crisp uppercuts and sharp right hands that slowed Cotto’s advances. From the ninth round onwards the tide shifted firmly back towards Mayweather, whose accuracy and timing enabled him to regain control. The twelfth and final round underlined his supremacy, a punishing uppercut leaving Cotto shaken before the bell.

The judges returned scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice, all in favour of Mayweather, though the crowd voiced displeasure at the wide margins given the competitiveness of the encounter. Statistically, Mayweather landed 179 punches from 687 thrown (26 per cent), compared with Cotto’s 105 of 506 (21 per cent). Both fighters left the ring marked – Mayweather with swelling and a bloody nose, Cotto with puffed eyes – a testament to the intensity of the twelve rounds.

Financially, the fight was a blockbuster. Mayweather earned a record-breaking guaranteed purse of $32 million, while Cotto pocketed $8 million plus pay-per-view revenue. With 1.5 million PPV buys generating $94 million, it became one of the most lucrative non-heavyweight contests in boxing history.

For Cotto, the defeat was his third but came with respect for a gallant showing. For Mayweather, the win cemented his place atop the sport, even as questions about a long-awaited clash with Manny Pacquiao remained unresolved.

On a night when blood, sweat and skill were on full display, Mayweather proved once again why he was regarded as the pound-for-pound king, but Cotto ensured that victory came at a cost.

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In a night that would further etch his name into boxing history, Manny Pacquiao delivered a punishing, career-defining performance against a courageous Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Billed as “Firepower,” the clash lived up to its name—though it was Pacquiao who brought the heat from the second round onward.

Despite entering the bout as the defending WBO welterweight champion and weighing a pound heavier at the contracted 145-lb catchweight, Cotto was quickly overwhelmed by Pacquiao’s unrelenting tempo. The Filipino whirlwind, already a six-division champion at the time, added a seventh world title to his résumé, dominating nearly every round and forcing the referee to halt the contest just 55 seconds into the twelfth.

Cotto opened the bout with poise, relying on his jab to control distance and edge the first round on some cards. But Pacquiao’s rhythm shifted gears in round two, and by the third, he had Cotto on the canvas courtesy of a crisp right hand. The Puerto Rican star was dropped again in the fourth, this time from a powerful left as he moved in recklessly.

Though Cotto rallied briefly in the fifth, trying to reassert himself with pressure and body work, the tide had decisively turned. Pacquiao’s footwork, flurry punching, and uncanny angles left Cotto chasing shadows—and bloodied ones at that. The Filipino icon’s onslaught in the later rounds was brutal and clinical, battering Cotto with calculated aggression that had fans on their feet and his opponent on borrowed time.

Judges had Pacquiao ahead by wide margins—109-99, 108-99, and 108-100—by the time referee Kenny Bayless waved it off. The ringside narrative was no longer about who was winning, but how much more Cotto could endure. His wife had seen enough and exited the arena after the ninth. Even Cotto himself confessed post-fight that he wanted out after round 11, but his corner sent him back out to face more punishment.

With this commanding TKO victory, Manny Pacquiao didn’t just win another belt—he cemented his position as one of the most formidable pound-for-pound fighters of his era.

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The welterweight division witnessed a brutal spectacle on 9 June 2007, as Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto retained his WBA crown with an 11th-round stoppage of Brooklyn’s Zab Judah before a raucous sell-out at Madison Square Garden.

Cotto, unbeaten heading into the bout, arrived with the reputation of a relentless body puncher and the adoration of the thousands who had travelled to New York on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Judah, the former undisputed champion, sought redemption after a turbulent spell that included licence suspension and a winless run. The ingredients were set for drama, and the fight more than delivered.

Judah opened sharply, using his southpaw stance and speed to rattle the champion early. An uppercut in the first round stunned Cotto, but controversy struck moments later when the Puerto Rican landed low, dropping Judah to the canvas in agony. The challenger rose and fought on, only to suffer the same misfortune in the third, this time costing Cotto a point deduction. Despite the setbacks, the defending champion began to impose himself.

By the fourth round, blood trickled from Judah’s right eye following a clash of heads, a cut that would worsen as the night progressed. Cotto pressed forward with trademark aggression, his combinations downstairs gradually eroding Judah’s resistance. The seventh saw the American rally with a fierce flurry that briefly had Cotto on the defensive, but the tide had turned.

Cotto’s eighth round was emphatic. Thudding uppercuts and hooks to the body forced Judah to retreat, his legs betraying fatigue. In the ninth, the Brooklyn fighter was forced to a knee, the pressure proving too much. Though he bravely fired back at the bell, the momentum was slipping from his grasp.

By the tenth, Cotto was in command, hammering Judah with heavy shots that drew roars from the partisan crowd. The challenger fought valiantly, pounding his chest in defiance, yet his cuts bled freely and his energy waned.

The end arrived swiftly in the 11th. A crisp right hand followed by a punishing left sent Judah to the canvas once more. Though he rose, Cotto swarmed him, and referee Arthur Mercante Jr. halted proceedings at 49 seconds of the round. It was Judah’s first stoppage defeat in six years.

All three judges had Cotto ahead 97–91 at the time of the stoppage, a testament to his dominance after a shaky start. According to punch statistics, the Puerto Rican landed more than twice the number of blows as his opponent, underlining the relentless pace he set.

For Cotto, it was a second successful defence of his welterweight crown and another step towards cementing his legacy among Puerto Rico’s finest champions. For Judah, gallant but undone, it was another frustrating night at the elite level.

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