Alvarez wins by decision

Canelo Alvarez landed the bigger punches to take a unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto and win a piece of the middleweight title in Las Vegas.

Alvarez took the fight to Cotto from the opening bell, winning rounds with big right hands and uppercuts. He won the WBC version of the title that Cotto vacated days earlier for not paying sanctioning fees. His win set up a possible megafight with Gennady Golovkin, the middleweight champion who was at ringside.

Alvarez, whose loss was to Floyd Mayweather Jr., won by scores of 117111, 119-109 and 118-110. Golf: Kevin Kisner had a 6-under 64 to build a three-shot lead in the RSM Classic at St. Simons Island, Ga., as he seeks his first win on the PGA Tour.

Cristie Kerr and Ha Na Jang shared the lead going into the final round of the LPGA Tour’s seasonending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., and Lydia Ko remained in control of the biggest year-end awards and a $1 million bonus. Kerr shot a 4-under 67 to match Jang at 13 under.

Rory McIlroy shot a 7-under 65 a shot behind leader Andy Sullivan after the third round of the European Tour’s seasonending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Matthew Millar shot a 3-under 68 in windy conditions to take a onestroke lead after the third round of the Australian Masters in Melbourne. Tennis: Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the ATP finals in London, setting up a Sunday final with Roger Federer, a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Stan Wawrinka. Motor sports: Chris Buescher won the Xfinity Series season title by finishing 11th in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Buescher was 15.9 seconds behind winner Kyle Larson.