Vinny’s Views: Miguel Cotto – A Boxing Career Reviewed
By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
Just sign on the dotted line. There were a handful of intriguing names bandied about for Miguel Cotto’s projected farewell fight. It’s safe to say that 98% of all boxers comeback from retirement once they realize they are too young to sit home and too old to take up a new profession, yet when Miguel says he will hang up the gloves for good after one last dance card on December 2, 2017, I believe him.
Shame of it is the future hall of famer was looking to go out on a high note one last time bathed in glory and not just a superficial win on boxing calendar. He boldly stepped up to the plate last month and publicly declared he wanted to fight the winner of middleweight showdown between champion Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. The abysmal scoring of that fight which ended in a draw seemed like nothing more than thinly disguised veil of smoke and mirrors for Alvarez to secure a rematch. Ringside Report awarded 9 rounds to Golovkin. With both men now mandated by theWBC for an immediate rematch they are sidelined from action until proposed date of May 2, 2018.
Golovkin wants the fight badly (He waited patiently 3 years for the first outing) and will be 36 years old next time they step into the ring. The champion also holds other alphabet belts of WBA and IBF, and has other options. Besides granting Cotto a shot at the crown he could also seek a complete unification with WBO champ Billy Joe Saunders. Slight chance of that now because when Cotto held the linear middleweight crown he lifted from Sergio Martinez in 2014 by ninth round stoppage he refused to publicly entertain the idea of facing Golovkin. Alvarez instead was given the shot in Cotto’s second defense and lifted his crown by unanimous decision. Miguel always believed he was short changed that night having boxed extremely well and was hoping Canelo would have been victorious against Golovkin, then awarding Cotto a rematch.
It’s funny when boxers want to claim a sense of honor when it comes to choosing opponents their resume poetically is written in stone. While no one can ever question Miguel’s heart inside the ring having faced a gauntlet of warriors including Randall Bailey, Demarcus Corley, Zab Judah, Paulie Malignaggi, Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey, Manny Pacquiao, Austin Trout, and Floyd Mayweather, JR. he has been extremely cautious in selecting dance partners spanning the last five years of his career.
Once he joined alliances with trainer Freddie Roach they wisely took on a new business acumen of finding only the most suitable (beatable) opponents to extend the remainder of Cotto’s career. First up was Delvin Rodriguez who was more appropriate to be a sparring partner and politely exited ring in the third round. They jumped on the chance to meet Sergio Martinez knowing full well recent knee operations left him more handicapped than king and punished him over a nine round beat down. Then came first defense against rugged Daniel Geale which was signed only on condition of a catch weight of 157 pound limit making a mockery of traditional 16O since time and memorial. After losing the title to Alvarez in fall of 2015 Cotto then enjoyed a two year layoff coming back last August against entertaining but limited brawler Yoshihiro Kamegai winning a unanimous decision.
Once it was decreed that Golovkin/Alvarez would be scheduled in 2018, Miguel shook up some names on paper and tossed inside a hat looking to exploit a boxer to make himself look good and retire on a win. While the media speculated that rugged top middleweight David Lemieux would make a fan friendly promotion to anoint a mandatory contender for the Golovkin throne the words were never uttered by team Cotto.
Before all this came about negotiations with Juan Manuel Marquez lingered for six months over what proposed catch weight the fight would be held at? Relentless pursuit of the match up ended in futility. A bored and long semi-retired Marquez officially hung up his gloves in August.
Knowing full well that Miguel paid his dues no man can say he doesn’t deserve to ask the disc jockey what his swan song will be? Perhaps the easy touch back door exit he seeks was predicated on the public execution held back in the summer of 2008 when Antonio Margarito handed Cotto his first loss by TKO with less than a minute remaining in eleventh round lifting his WBA welterweight title and aura of invincibility. The fallout from this bout was later exposed by Shane Mosley when it was learned that Antonio’s hand wraps were loaded kegs of dynamite. Plaster of Paris in dry form was layered in-between each over lapping layer. Once the heat from leather gloves made the fists sweat it would activate the plaster to liquid form. As the rounds eclipsed the wrapped hand turned into a hospital cast; a deadly camouflaged set of brass knuckles. On what could easily be described as his finest night back in 2009, Shane gave “Margacheato” the beating of his life in furious anger for his lack of sportsmanship.
No one will ever know for sure how much the beating Cotto received took out of him both mentally and physically. Both Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo were given one year suspensions by the California State Athletic Commission. While it was never proved that Margarito was in complicity to cheat he was deemed responsible for everything that went on his corner. Comparison of red stains on hand wraps of both Mosley and Cotto fights bore irrefutable resemblance giving credence the cheating had been taking place for some time.
Three years later after running his comeback 4-1 he rematched Margarito on “equal” grounds and systematically took him apart stopping him via a tenth round TKO with his WBA light middleweight title at stake.
Onward, the Cotto team seemed to lower the bar when searching for a suitable opponent worthy of Cotto’s stature. Instead of seeking the services of well-established junior middleweights Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Liam Smith, Demetrius Andrade and Austin Trout team Cotto shamelessly looked down their noses at the smaller less dangerous welterweights.
Danny Garcia turned down the offer when the disbursement of monies could not be agreed upon. Next Mikey Garcia was asked to take the bait. While casual fans might think this is one hell of a match up, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Garcia has fought only one time at 140 lbs, having just moved up from fighting only once at 135. The money offered to rise another 14 pounds did not make sense to the Garcia camp. What it did do was expose the fact Cotto was exclusively looking to pick on a smaller foe.
Jessie Vargas was chosen next. A limited welterweight who had a name but failed the only two tests of his modest career losing a unanimous decisions to Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao. Two legends who had seen better days and thought to be over the hill and ripe for the taking. Against Pacquiao Vargas failed to win a round. The monetary gains offered for this proposed match up must have been insignificant compared to the risk of facing the Puerto Rican icon.
Finally dredging the bottom of the barrel, team Cotto settled on one Sadam Ali, 25-1, 14 KO’s. Yes, the Sadam who suffered the only test of his career against none other than Jessie Vargas. There are no other recognizable names on Ali’s resume, even to hardened fans. It’s not for me to denigrate a fighter as I truly believe Sadam is an honest hard working boxer looking to make a place for himself in the world. His team should be looking to avenge the loss to Vargas, not jump into the Lion’s den. This match up theoretically would fare better as a simple tune up for Cotto in hopes of staying active for a “serious” goodbye soiree next year.
“The Lion’s den” is slated for Madison Square Garden with the historic arena holding December 2 open for the curious matchup to be finalized and inked.
The Vinny Factor:
Nothing can be won by Cotto who has placed himself in a no win situation. If he blows out Ali in brutal fashion he proves nothing. Those that never sat ringside for a Cotto fight have one last chance to do so as MSG will promote this bout as a Latin American event.
The flip side of logic is I have seen stranger things happen by karma when several fighters looked to exit boxing on a pre-determined win. Anyone recall little Michael Spinks upsetting Larry Holmes’ unbeaten record and proposed farewell defense? How about Muhammad Ali losing to Michael’s Brother Leon who was perceived as a soft touch with a 6-0-1 record going into fight of David and Goliath proportions?
Stay tuned…
[si-contact-form form=’2′]