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The Miguel Cotto Hostage Crisis: The Lineal Middleweight Championship of the World

miguel cotto headerBy Travis Fleming

In June of 2014, Puerto Rican living legend Miguel Cotto sealed his hall of fame ballot with a remarkable upset win over Ring Magazine, WBC and lineal Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez when Martinez was unable to come out for the 10th round after being pulverized through 9 rounds by a relentless Cotto. Cotto was thought of as too small for Middleweight and in the twilight of his career. Sergio, although not at his peak, was rightfully a heavy favorite. From round 1 where Sergio was dropped twice, Cotto’s attack beat the heavily favored champ from post to post in a shocking upset. It was Cotto’s second fight with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and under Roach he appeared to be the strongest he’s looked since his 2007 beat down of Zab Judah.

In Cotto’s first bout under Freddie Roach, he looked equally ferocious with calculated pressure against durable gatekeeper Delvin Rodriguez, whom Cotto also battered with a vicious assault until a powerful combination left Rodriguez on the canvas and unable to continue at the beginning of the third round. Previous to this, Cotto had dropped a rather shockingly lopsided decision to slick southpaw Austin Trout. Most wrote Cotto off after the Trout loss and expected his career to be on the fritz but after linking up with Roach, a rejuvenated Cotto showed us he still has the fire and ability to compete at the elite level.

Prior to taking a beating from Cotto, the aging Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez had been plagued by injury and was coming off of a dangerous 12th round against Julio Cesar Chavez, JR. and a controversial hometown decision over Martin Murray (many felt Murray beat Sergio at home in Argentina). Martinez got caught and injured in round 12 against Chavez after a masterful performance and has never looked the same since. The version of Martinez that Cotto got in the ring was likely not the best measuring stick for how Miguel could compete at Middleweight. Not only was it at a catchweight against a small (for the division), aging champ but Sergio could was almost certainly injured or not healed properly and at the very least had injuries re-aggravated in round 1 against Cotto. As a result Sergio never got his legs under him and the rest is history.

Boxing then had an unlikely MW champion in Cotto, a familiar face wearing the crown after just one catchweight fight over the Junior Middleweight limit.
During the time Martinez was winding down his career and looking for that last big payday against Cotto, there was something else happening at Middleweight: Gennady Golovkin also know as Triple G or GGG. Although Martinez had the crown, most fans expert felt that GGG was the top Middleweight on the planet and that it was only a matter of time before he snatched the crown from the aging Martinez. With Cotto throwing a wrench in these plans, the fan focus, and the focus of Golovkin, was now shifted to a fight between Miguel Cotto and GGG to crown a true king at 160 lbs.
In June 2014, GGG was chomping at the bit to get his hands on all the marbles at Middleweight and had been patiently awaiting his shot at the Lineal championship while he toiled away with the WBA belt annihilating any Middleweight with enough guts to get in the ring with him. Surely GGG anticipated a Martinez victory, followed by a passing the torch fight between the old great Sergio Martinez and himself (provided he himself got by his toughest test to date in former champ Daniel Geale). While training for Geale, GGG must have been shocked to see Cotto dominate Martinez but excited at the same time because Miguel Cotto is an even bigger draw and surely the being the warrior he is, Cotto would defend his Lineal Championship against the consensus best Middleweight on earth. With dreams of Cotto in his head, GGG slaughtered the formidable Geale in just 3 rounds, less time than anyone could imagine for what was supposed to be his best opponent.

GGG wanted Cotto’s Championship but Cotto was in no rush to risk his hard earned title having just done the impossible by becoming an unlikely Middleweight champion. Fair enough, Cotto was entitled to a rest. To force Cotto’s hand when he decides to return, GGG took on Marco Antonio Rubio to become the WBC interim champ and, therefore, the mandatory challenger for Cotto. GGG destroyed Rubio as expected but in quicker fashion than most thought in round two. Meanwhile Cotto was still resting and showed no interest in facing his mandatory GGG or anyone for that matter. Apparently he was granted a voluntary defense by the WBC but nothing came to fruition.

Preferring to stay active and take out the rest of the division, GGG opted to take on the toughest opponent of his career in Martin Murray who arguably should have been crowned champion twice when he lost a controversial hometown decision Sergio Martinez and he was awarded just a draw against Felix Sturm when most felt he beat Sturm at home in Germany. Murray is arguably the 2nd best middleweight on Earth and although he took GGG longer than anyone else in GGG’s 13 Middleweight title defenses, Murray was stopped in round 11 to make it 13 KO’s in 13 World title defenses for the peoples Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

It has been nearly a year since Miguel Cotto won the Lineal Middleweight championship of the world and he still hasn’t made a defense of his title, let alone given the deserving mandatory GGG his shot. Cotto held out hope for a Floyd Mayweather, JR. rematch and as a result he missed that fight as well as a lucrative defense against Canelo Alvarez. Cotto has yet to even fight at the 160 lb limit after being the champ at that weight for almost a year.

In an unexpected move, Cotto has just announced that he has left Top Rank Promotions again to sign with Jay Z’s Roc Nation and it has been rumored that Cotto’s next opponent will be Junior Middleweight Cornelius “K9” Bundrage. Prior to signing to Roc Nation, rumored Cotto opponents were blown up Junior Welterweights Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios. These fights would be fine if they weren’t at a catchweight of 155 lbs for the 160 lbs World championship while GGG and every other Middleweight contender were waiting for deserved title shots. Luckily in snubbing Top Rank for Roc Nation, Bradley and Rios are no longer potential opponents. Now, 41 year old Junior Middleweight gatekeeper Cornelius “K9” Bundrage appears to be up next as an opponent on June 13, 1 year after Cotto won the title against Sergio Martinez. This is another fight that would be acceptable as a stay busy fight but there should be no stay busy fight for a Miguel Cotto who has been inactive for a year while holding the Middleweight championship hostage from the Middleweight division. Bundrage, a 41 yr old career Junior middleweight, is not an acceptable defense of the prestigious Lineal Middleweight championship of the world.

Miguel Cotto has been a warrior of the highest regard and has always fought the best in his great career. I understand he is down to his last few years in the sport and has the right to pick and choose opponents for paydays but he doesn’t have the right to hold the Lineal championship hostage.

I beg of you Miguel Cotto: fight a top 10 Middleweight or vacate.
Fans might accept Canelo or Erislandy Lara moving up but the talks of Bundrage are ridiculous unless Cotto vacates the championship and lets the big boys duke it out for king of 160 lbs. If Cotto fights the winner of Lee against Quillin or Ndam against Lemieux, fans may be alright with him keeping the championship as long as the winner fights GGG.

No one is going to be mad at Miguel Cotto if he admits he’s too small for Middleweight, vacates the belt and moves back to 154 lbs. If he’s not going to defend his Middleweight title against Middleweights, he needs to allow the Middleweight division the right to crown a new king by vacating. The WBC have ordered a fight between Cotto and GGG if Cotto wins in his voluntary defense in June and let’s hope if Cotto wins in June, the WBC stay true to their word and strip Miguel Cotto of his belt unless he agrees to terms for a fall showdown with Golovkin.

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