Mayweather vs Cotto results: Floyd Mayweather wins title from Miguel Cotto in classic

Arguably the pound-for-pound greatest boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather, returned to the ring last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) to do battle against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the super welterweight championship on the line.

Mayweather came in with a jail sentence hanging over his head and a 42-0 career record to protect against a younger, stronger and hugely dangerous fighter in Cotto. He would need to dig deep into his bag of tricks to pull out victory number 43 but ultimately, that's exactly what he did.

The two pugilists engaged in a classic war that needed all 12 rounds and 36 minutes to be decided. "Money" shot out of the gate early with his usual stick and move style that gave Cotto trouble, enough to put him down on the scorecards in the first few rounds.

But as the bout wore on, the Puerto Rican started taking pages out of his opponents book, playing defense and staying loose on the outside. It worked, too, flustering Mayweather and leading to a few lost rounds in the middle of the contest. The seemingly inevitable happened, though, as "Money May" stepped on the gas pedal and got to counter punching, dipping his head behind his shoulder and avoiding the majority of Cotto's big punches.

Ultimately, the outcome was never in doubt ... not really. Cotto had come to fight and put his best foot forward, providing perhaps the toughest test of Mayweather's career. Ultimately, though, the best boxer in the world maintained his spot as the king of the sport with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 117-111, 117-111, 118-110.

Cotto was good. Mayweather was just better. He always seems to be, right?

Now it's off to the slammer while fans of the sweet science continue to salivate at the thought of Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao before someone comes along who is just a bit better than Cotto and cuts the legs out from under what would be one of the biggest boxing bouts of all time.

For complete Mayweather vs. Cotto results and blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of all the night's action click here. To watch highlights of the fight click here.

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