Miguel Cotto Champion Again, Defeats Kamegai For WBO Title

Miguel Cotto had not stepped in the ring for over two years after losing his Middleweight title to Saul Alvarez, and for all of his troubles, he had a neatly wrapped title fight dropped on his lap as he faced off against tough journeyman Yoshiro Kamegai to claim the WBO Junior Middleweight title.

Cotto looked revitalized and efficient against an opponent that gave him every opportunity to look so as Kamegai aimlessly wandered forward, taking shots at will in hopes that he would land anything of substance. It never came to be as Cotto never found himself in any danger and coasted his way to yet another world title, his sixth in his illustrious career.

As it stands now, Cotto now has a belt in one of boxing’s deepest divisions but is not exactly looking for guts and glory to close out his career, which he has repeatedly claimed he would do by the end of the year. Of course, Cotto’s ability to play the boxing politics game is second to none and is extremely likely he’ll bypass the rigors of that division altogether and aim to face Alvarez in a rematch should he defeat Gennady Golovkin in the next few weeks.

Cotto’s win moves the future hall of famer’s record to 41-5 and back in the spotlight after a long absence. Kamegai served his purpose to make Cotto look formidable, but was unable to make the most of his opportunity to exit gatekeeper status dropping to 27-4-2.