By Rich Mancuso

Canelo Alvarez was the better fighter Saturday night in Las Vegas and for Miguel Cotto, the lineal status of middleweight champion is now something that can be attributed to boxing politics and the WBC, The champion after a strategic 12-rounds of boxing is Canelo Alvarez and what awaits him will be a test.

The real Canelo Alvarez, as he says, is ready. That next fight could come in May against  Gennady Golovkin, a fight that will get immediate attention and an opponent that Alvarez knows uses more strategy with his ability to use the knockout punch.

If there is no interference from the powers that rule boxing, in particular from the WBC, the first title defense for Alvarez will be his strength at middleweight and a strategy to avoid the power of a Golovkin punch. As for Cotto, there could be one or two fights left before he counts the days to the Hall of Fame but the days of his mega fight are over.

And those two words from Canelo Alvarez after the fight described the moment and what is ahead: “I am ready,”

There were no questions about Alvarez not being able to go the distance. He boxed, punched and that loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in the books. It was not the time for Alvarez against the defense of Mayweather, but it was his time Saturday night and now he is ready for bigger and more lucrative fights.

Canelo Alvarez is ready. A right from Alvarez in the third round may have hurt Cotto but the four-time champion from Puerto Rico showed his desire to say it was still his time. What followed in the fourth round were more rights from Alvarez and a strategy that continued to show it was going to be his time.

And no matter what Freddie Roach said about the outcome, commenting that his fighter Cotto “outboxed” Alvarez, the results showed that the new champion was the one who boxed better and had the proper  strategy to become the new WBC middleweight champion.

Cotto threw 629 punches and connected 21 percent.  Alvarez threw less but connected more and in boxing that is strategy.What remains to be determined is a strategy that would work to avoid the devastating knockout power that Golovkin beings to the table.  And you can’t box against Triple-G, but Alvarez and his training camp have plenty of time and ways to discuss strategy before their eventual fight.

Oscar de La Hoya, promoter of Alvarez and head of Golden Boy Promotions was all smiles after the fight. All along the ride, he said Canelo Alvarez had the ability and could take the sport into a new era. He has a champion now that once again propels his promotion in the spotlight, more so because an eventual Alvarez-Golovkin fight will instantly become the mega fight of next year.

And for Alvarez to be put in that class there needs to be consistency. There has always been that aspect of weight for the new champion and is the middleweight division a place where he belongs?  If there were any issues with putting on a few more pounds when Alvarez came in the ring Saturday night, it did not seem to hinder his effort against Cotto.

“I was fully prepared for what Cotto was going to do in the ring whether it was take a defense stance or be the aggressor,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.  That would have to be similar strategy against Golovkin, but there is time to review the tapes and discuss a plan.

Right now Canelo Alvarez can return to Mexico and enjoy this victory. And enjoy it while he can because the tougher tests are on the horizon even though he says, “I’m ready.”

Comment Rich Mancuso: [email protected]  Twitter@Ring786  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso