Clottey tops Alvarez, becomes mandatory for Cintron

Joshua Clottey won a 12-round unanimous decision over Shamone Alvarez tonight, becoming the mandatory challenger for Kermit Cintron's IBF welterweight title. Scores were 118-110, 116-112, 115-113. I had it 117-111 for Clottey.

It was a good performance, as he clearly had the power advantage and a far tougher will than Alvarez. He's now in line for his second world title shot, the first being his loss to Antonio Margarito last December.

Clottey won the fight thanks to the power of his shots, and Alvarez being thrown off of whatever his gameplan was. Alvarez is noted for throwing a lot, but he just didn't. Clottey would rush in with a left hook to the body, followed by a left uppercut, and Alvarez's southpaw stance gave him no advantage. It finishes off a really good rebound year for Clottey (33-2, 19 KO), who also beat Diego Corrales and Felix Flores via decision in 2007.

On the undercard, super heavies Tye Fields (268 pounds on the scale) and Chris Koval (277) almost finished a round before Fields knocked Koval out, and 21-year old junior middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan dropped Dan Wallace in the opening frame, too, improving to 17-0 with his 12th KO.