Mexico's Saul "Canelo" Alvarez ­captured the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday with a unanimous decision victory over Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto.

Judges awarded Alvarez the verdict by scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111, the Mexican improving to 46-1-1 while Cotto fell to 40-5.

Alvarez, 25, became only the second Mexican fighter to claim the world middleweight throne, taking the title Cotto, 34, surrendered earlier in the week rather than pay sanctioning fees.

Unbeaten Kazak fighter Gennady Golovkin, 34-0 with 31 knockouts, owns the other two major middleweight titles and Alvarez said he is ready to face him to determine an undisputed champion.

Cotto suffered only his second defeat in 10 fights against Mexicans, the other coming to Antonio Margarito in 2008.