11/20/2015
Cotto vs Canelo: a Puerto Rico vs Mexico war, or Experience vs Youth?
Friday, November 20, 2015
Written By: Robert Ramos
Many years ago, I made the mistake of writing off Miguel Cotto (W-40 L-4 D-0) as damaged goods and a shot fighter. My conclusion was based upon the bloody aftermath from the intense beating that Cotto absorbed from the heavy handed Antonio Margarito back in July of 2008. It was later discovered that Margarito could have to have possibly used cement laced hand-wraps in many of his fights, including the Cotto fight. After that face damaging TKO loss that Cotto acquired at the hands of Margarito and much to my dismay, Cotto came back stronger than ever and subsequently proved his battle armor toughness and in the process, won over many fans, namely me.
The mild mannered, soft spoken Cotto overwhelmingly convinced us that he continues to be a strong willed warrior and a merited champion. Cotto won eight bouts since that ill-fated date, losing only three fights in the process, one each to Pacquiao (TKO), Mayweather (UDec) and Austin Trout, (UDec) respectfully. To Cotto’s defense, each loss he experienced, was due to taking on extremely high caliber fight opposition.
I actually thought Cotto did enough to warrant a split decision win against Mayweather, by busting up and bloodying Mayweather’s face, while making him extremely uncomfortable, punching Mayweather anywhere he could and forcing him into the ropes, like a school playground bully during the earlier rounds. Mayweather as always, knows how to win in the latter rounds and as usual, the judges gave Money Mayweather the unanimous decision victory.
The highlight of Miguel Cotto’s comeback contains a rematch ending in a 9th round (TKO) victory over his archenemy, Antonio Margarito. This was Cotto’s sweet revenge for Antonio’s cheating during their first encounter. For that retaliation win, and all his other triumphs since then, I have given Cotto mad respect, however, with Cotto fighting against Canelo Alvarez this Saturday, at the ripe age of 35 and the fact that he has been in so many hard-fought wars, leaves me to consider that his opponent Canelo Alvarez, who is only 25 years of age, may not only have the advantage age-wise, but also skill wise. Canelo throws exceptional and accurate, multi-punch combinations to the head and the body “punches in bunches,” throughout most of the fight, while only taking off a few rounds in between, to pace himself, which in the long run, wins rounds.
During Canelo Alvarez’s (W-41 L-1 D-1) youthful participation as a professional boxer, he has faced a long list of somewhat formidable opposition, even though their records are similar in the amount of fights that Canelo and Cotto both have under their belts, Canelo has not nearly faced the top level and high quality opponents that Cotto has in the past. Nonetheless, Canelo exhibits rock-solid boxing fundamentals, along with a concrete defense and ample head movement, which will prove to be a difficult challenge for the aging and war-torn Cotto.
Don’t get me wrong, Cotto, who is by all means still a championship caliber fighter in his own right, still has gas left in his tank and is still considered a very dangerous opponent that has both accuracy and power. Cotto's experience and ringmanship is a tremendous asset, which will prove helpful in the later rounds and allow him to maneuver and adjust around bad situations.
Both boxers know what they are up against and with both boxers respecting each others ability and punching power, I don't see either boxer getting too careless, nor trying too hard to win by K.O, and ultimately risk being knocked out themselves.
There is too much money at stake for the future of both fighters, even though Cotto has recently said that he has only two, or three fights left in him before he officially announces his retirement from the sport of boxing, so in retrospect, Cotto is preparing himself for an illustrious exit and most importantly, the desire to enjoy a normal life with his family, together with his health also intact.
For now Cotto’s desire is to keep his legacy complete and like a true champion, he doesn’t want to tarnish the tail end of his reign and lose badly, especially by a knockout, when there is more money to be made and added further towards his ever blooming nest egg.
Another advantage Canelo has besides his youth, is that Golden Boy Promotions, who is in cozy bed with the WBC, will be co-promoting this event. That said, Canelo will also have the judges on his side, especially after the way Miguel Cotto snubbed the WBC, who tried strong-arming him days before this fight to pay a whopping $800,000 dollars, in order for the WBC mandatory challenger GGGolovkin, to step aside, along with a $300,000 WBC sanctioning fee, in order for Cotto to keep the WBC middleweight belt that he had, prior to the WBC approaching him of their new policy.
Cotto must have taken a deep breath and took into account the WBC’s perfectly timed extortion scheme, because Cotto’s response to the WBC was basically, “Take this belt and shove it, I’ll keep my 1.1 million dollars in the bank, I can buy all the belts and championships that I want.”
I personally applaud Cotto for having the “Cojones” to stand up against the WBC’s unjust taxing, especially with their undermining, last minute effort to psychologically get into Cotto’s head, as well as his pockets. They tried to achieve all this days before his big payday against Canelo. The WBC already makes millions of dollars, off the blood, sweat and tears of champion boxers, who risk their lives every time they step into the ring, but for some, there is never enough money to go around. In my opinion, these high level sanctioning organizations corrupt the sport, but we’ll save that rant for a different article. At least Cotto knows how to read past the WBC’s smoke and mirrors circus act and handled the situation like a “G.”
Cotto’s refusal to fork over his hard earned money, of course, enraged the WBC, as well as Oscar DeLaHoya. Unfortunately, Cotto’s in your face snubbing, has a downward ripple effect that runs deep into the Las Vegas boxing commission and its judges, whom I feel will be blatantly biased towards giving Canelo Alvarez the edge on the scorecards.
Nevertheless, this main PPV event showcases a great and historic boxing rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico. I expect a great fight, with some serious toe to toe action, ending in a close split decision victory for Canelo Alvarez.
At this underdog stage of Miguel Cotto’s career, he still has a slim puncher's chance to walk away victorious and I believe the only way Cotto can win, is by a knockout victory. Especially, considering that Holly Holm, who was a huge underdog, shocked the world by knocking out the heavily favored Ronda Rousey last weekend. Therefore proving, that we know nothing is impossible when two warriors enter the squared circle.
