Thread: Miguel Cotto - Make or Break

Miguel Cotto – Make or Break


I was in New York on holiday back in April/May of this year and I was enjoying some cold beer on the day of the Pacquiao Vs Hatton fight.


I was in New York (Manhattan) in total for ten nights, I went with my family and we did the whole tourist thing, however, I had made a deal with my family that on fight night I would go off by myself and just build up to the fight.


My fight day preparations started of by going into Times Square for about 2.30pm; I knew it was going to be a long day so for lunch I picked up one of those Chicken Kebabs on a stick with barbecue and hot sauce. I had made preparations to watch the fight at Jack Dempsey’s bar in Times Square, unfortunately it’s not the original Jack Dempsey’s with the actual boxing ring in there but an Irish Bar named after the ‘Manassa Mauler’with a few boxing pictures on the walls.


I wasn’t planning on getting to Jack Dempsey’s until about 7.30pm so I needed somewhere else to go before then. As I am a huge fight fan and it was my first time in New York (I must point out I absolutely loved it there best holiday ever) I was told about this bar called Jimmy’s Corner, again in Times Square. It’s a bar that’s owned by Jimmy Glenn who I believe started out as a trainer for amateurs and most recently he was the trainer for Monte Barrett’s fight against David Haye and he also worked the corner for Shane Mosley against Antonio Maragrito.


When I got there it was everything I expected and some, the place is a bit like a Boxing Memorabilia Museum. It’s a typical old school New York narrow bar with dimmed lights and is full of boxing memorabilia across all the walls, big official framed fight posters and various other prints and posters, even the actual bar had various boxing pictures on it’s surface, one would struggle to find traces of any wall paper on the actual walls themselves due to the amount of boxing memorabilia that is the décor. I will always recall the ones of Jimmy Glen with Muhammad Ali, Ali is putting his fist up to Jimmy’s chin, nice picture and the other is of Roberto Duran past his prime taken around 1983 but still menacing enough for him to beat most of the top elite fighters at that time, this picture is placed above the bar. There is also a Bell to sound the rounds placed at the end of the bar, I understand it’s original home was the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden, if you ever do visit Jimmy’s Corner, try and restrain yourself from ringing the actual Bell, as it means a round of drinks for everyone in the bar, house rules!


Anyway, I spent the whole afternoon in there drinking beer and talking about Boxing, mind you I was taking my time with the beer as I knew I had a long day ahead, although I never actually got to meet Jimmy himself as I understand he was working the corner of an up and coming boxer that day. I did meet his wife however who I believe is originally from Eastern Europe although I may be wrong, very nice woman but equally I got the impression she’s a woman who doesn’t pull her punches.


I really enjoyed my time at Jimmy’s Corner and met some very nice people, the whole experience was great and I hope I am fortunate enough to return their one day and relive the whole experience.


Anyway, when the time finally came I made my way to Jack Dempsey’s to watch the fight.


Now you maybe thinking this piece is on the actual Hatton Vs. Pacquaio fight and they way I have started this piece I can’t really blame you for thinking that way and come to think of it, I will probably do a piece about my fight night experience in New York but I will leave that for another time, at least I have a start for that piece now, I’ll need to add a bit more information like the Boxing DVD store in the Tube station but like I say that’s for another time.


As I continued enjoying the beer, this time at my new destination I met up with a couple of guys from Puerto Rico, they had flown in from the Island to spend the weekend in Manhattan and to catch the fight as well.


The three of us sat at the bar and we watched the build up show to the fight, I told them about myself and we talked about Boxing past and present, even if I do say so myself they were surprised but happily impressed with my boxing knowledge and in particular my knowledge of the Puerto Rican fighters and some of their memorable battles with some of the great Mexican fighters.


After we had discussed in some detail the careers of Carlos Ortiz, Wilfredo Gomez, Juan Laporte and Felix Trinidad to mention a few, we then moved onto Miguel Cotto. We talked about the Margarito Vs. Cotto fight, despite this whole ‘hand wraps’ issue, I was surprised that there were no bad feelings towards Margarito, I got the impression they didn’t think Margarito used any illegal hand wraps against Cotto and they thought the better man won.


What really stuck in my mind and was bought to the forefront of my thoughts during this past weekends fight involving Cotto and Clottey was something both of these Puerto Rican gentlemen pointed out, and that was Cotto’s thirst for Beer and Whisky.


Now, I don’t want to spread any rumours whatsoever, I am simply stating my opinion based on my experience and research (how credible my sources are, I can’t say but they are of opinion or even fact, I can’t confirm). When I was talking with these guys they mentioned with confidence that Cotto has been seen out and about on quite a few occasions partying and so forth and that he likes to drink a lot when not in training, to be fair there’s nothing wrong in that just as long as it doesn’t effect your performance in the ring.

Continued in Miguel Cotto - Make or Break Part 2........

Continued from Miguel Cotto - Make or Break

I have been a fan of Cotto ever since he made his debut as a pro back in 2001. I thought the Cotto Vs. Clottey fight was a decent affair and it went a long way to answering some question marks about Cotto but equally it posed some others.

The first question was not of Cotto’s will or heart, for me that has never been in question, for me it was how much did the Margarito fight take out of Cotto, because ‘hand wraps’ or no ‘hand wraps’ that was a brutal battle for both men, and in my opinion the outcome would be the same again ‘hand wraps’ or no ‘hand wraps’.

So my first question was answered and that was that Cotto is fine, he’s not damaged goods, I think Cotto can live with that defeat because I feel he believes he was not beaten fair and square, so there are no mental scars, whether he was beaten fair and square, well we will probably never know.

Going into the fight I predicted a UD win for Cotto with rounds 10 and 11 proving to be crucial, I thought it would have ended up this way had it not been for the cut just above Cotto’s left eye. I think that cut did hamper him but he showed great courage and skill to fight through it and get the SD. I do admire Cotto from the point of view that he has never ducked anybody, anyone they (Top Rank) put in front of him he accepts the challenge, a true fighter.

Joshua Clottey will always prove to be an awkward opponent he’s got a good chin, good high tight defence and can hit you with combinations. Clottey’s main downfall is his on/off switch, sometimes he just stops working when he has the advantage to press it home, why, I don’t know.

I thought Cotto just about edged the decision and I believe had he not been cut, he would have got a more convincing UD that I predicted. Now this brings me to the new question marks posed, I don’t know how much that cut has to do with these but I am going by what I saw as a fight fan.

Clottey posed a firm test, but there are way, way bigger tests out there for Cotto like possible rematches against Margarito (which I believe will happen) and Mosley. But there is a huge test right around the corner and that’s Pacquaio which I understand is pretty much a done deal.

To me Cotto looked slower against Clottey than in some of his previous fights and I felt his conditioning was not at the level it needs to be. There was a moment in the fight when Cotto had Clottey pinned in the corner and he was landing with some good solid shots and suddenly he backed off, so much so, right across to the other side of the ring, now I don’t understand those actions, was it because of the cut or conditioning, I mean he backed right off, Clottey didn’t throw anything, Cotto just backed off, I felt there was some uncertainty about his work.

This, as I hinted at previously makes me think just how serious Cotto is taking the fight game at the present time. I know Cotto fans will point to the split and disturbance between him and his uncle Evangelista and they may well have a valid point, but I point to a small note, I hope I am wrong, I really do, but when Cotto was cut in the third round and he went back to his corner at the end of the round, when they began working on his cut he gave a smile/laugh that to me resembled a care free type attitude, as I say I don’t know what was being said in the corner at the time but that picture just made me think and question Cotto’s outside the ring goings on. It is hard to explain so depending on who and how they view that little scene will determine each individuals opinion, but for me it told a short story of a talent that maybe on the slide and may not fulfil his true potential because of goings on outside of the ring.

I would like to clarify I have no right to question his commitment because he’s a fighter who steps into that squared circle, but as a fight fan I believe I can question his approach to fully maximising his potential and talent.

Although Cotto won, on a few occasions when Clottey had Cotto on the ropes and in some trouble I just couldn’t help wondering that Cotto would have been KO’d by a better/stronger fighter than Clottey e.g. Williams and/or Margarito.

With all the recent disturbances in the Top Rank stable from the point of view of Arum defending Margarito and Cotto questioning his commitment to Arum as a result, I see Bob Arums vision very clearly.

There was a point in time when Cotto was the ‘man’ at Top Rank, but now the ‘man’ not only at Top Rank but the ‘cash cow’ in the whole boxing is Pacquaio. After Cotto’s defeat to Margarito and this last performance against Clottey, which I would like to clarify as being an overall good performance but not to Cotto’s highest level (maybe due to the cut) Arum too see’s something, and that’s his once young fresh hot prospect talent may now be nearly done or certainly on the decline, at least if he doesn’t change things around outside of the ring.

That’s why Arum is very keen to make the fight between Cotto and Pacquiao. He calls the fight ‘dead even’ but I think he believes Pacquiao will win. If this fight is made at a catch weight of around 143lbs then Cotto is on the back foot straightaway. Cotto really struggled to make 140lbs towards the end of his Light Welterweight career and I think it would hurt him to make 143lbs now.

Obviously, if Cotto beats Pacquiao then it changes a lot of things, but consider this, where as before Pacquiao Vs. Cotto would be considered a slight mismatch at least on paper from the point of view of Cotto being a natural Welterweight and having to much power with decent hand speed, at this moment in time I know there are many who think a KO is on the cards, but not for the guy from Caguas Puerto Rico but the guy from General Santos City Philippines.

Either way it will be another big fight night that I look forward to with great excitement and some very cold beer and I will be able to say that’s three fighters now that Cotto has accepted to fight without even the slightest hesitation that another fighter has openly avoided (OK maybe he hasn’t avoided Shane Mosley)

The sport of boxing needs true warriors like Cotto, so please Mr Miguel Angel Cotto stick around and give yourself the best opportunity, the beer and parties can wait, at least for another 4-5 years!

Jesus!

I have no idea why a little smile from Cotto after he got cut would make you question so much. But either way. Cotto handled the cut very well IMO.

I have no idea whether he parties or not. I'm sure he probably does at least to some extent, there have been some hard party types that had better careers than Cotto.

Clottey is impossible to look good against. People will be surprised if they make a Cotto-Mosley rematch to see that Cotto will beat him again. I think Pacquaio beats him but I felt that way before Clottey. Margarito's not even worth discussing.

OumaFan,

Thanks for commenting on my article, as you know I don't post much but when I do I like to think it's a good read.

The article has alot more substance than just Cotto's smile but the point I should have made clearer is that Cotto did look slow and some what sluggish, I mean the peice I wrote is more about a onetime potential P4P no 1 contender to a fighter that is losing direction and finds his career in the state it is in, I mean if he loses to Pacquaio and that is a big if, because of the 'natural size difference' then what happens to Cotto.

I know most don't want to talk about Margarito but I believe this is where they are both heading, looking for redemption further down the line but for very different reasons.

Originally Posted by Kel

Jesus!

Not sure what to make of that, I hope you enjoyed the read.

Originally Posted by The Wind

Originally Posted by Kel

Jesus!

Not sure what to make of that, I hope you enjoyed the read.

The letters are really small, maybe it's the high resolution of my lappy (1900 X 1200) that's causing it. Is a good read though and I did enjoy reading it, I copied and pasted it into wordpad and blew it up

Cotto looked normal against Clottey, his handspeed was the same, I think his defense looked a bit poor, but that must be partly to do with his cut which I think changed the fihgt because almost everytime he came forward he really dominated Clottey, that being said, I think people weren't expecting Clottey to have the better handspeed, but he does, Clottey has really good handspeed, he just doesn't get the same leverage on his punches that COtto does.

I've said this since seeing Pacquiao against Oscar, I think he picks COtto apart, not because Cotto isn't a great fighter, but because you have to find somebody to punish them, and if Hatton can't close the gap effectively against Manny then Cotto won't be able to, and if anyone can land on Cotto it will be Manny for a variety of reasons
1) Manny's speed
2) The left hand lands on Cotto
3) Manny's offensive ability, who honestly is a better offensive fighter in boxing right now?

Originally Posted by Taeth

Cotto looked normal against Clottey, his handspeed was the same, I think his defense looked a bit poor, but that must be partly to do with his cut which I think changed the fihgt because almost everytime he came forward he really dominated Clottey, that being said, I think people weren't expecting Clottey to have the better handspeed, but he does, Clottey has really good handspeed, he just doesn't get the same leverage on his punches that COtto does.

I've said this since seeing Pacquiao against Oscar, I think he picks COtto apart, not because Cotto isn't a great fighter, but because you have to find somebody to punish them, and if Hatton can close the gap effectively against Manny then Cotto won't be able to, and if anyone can land on Cotto it will be Manny for a variety of reasons
1) Manny's speed
2) The left hand lands on Cotto
3) Manny's offensive ability, who honestly is a better offensive fighter in boxing right now?

Teath, thanks for chiming in. I agree with you on most points, but I did feel Cotto looked a little slower with getting that leverage on his punches, if that makes sense. I agree there is no better offensive fighter than Pacquiao, I believe that if Pacquiao and Cotto are 100% in condition, Pacquuiao's straight left is going to cause all sorts of problems for Cotto and for good measure Pacquiao's right jab and hook come cross will also be a problem, I can see how this will pan out, can you see the picture Cotto back pedeling at times and being in real trouble, I can, I like Cotto alot but like me peice states it's or make or break for him at this point, and I see a rematch with Margarito and that's for redemption for both fighters but for very different reasons.

By the way, did you ever think a couple of years ago that we would boxing fans would be thinking that Pacquiao could actaully beat Cotto, I think that's testament to Pacquiao's greatness and I never use that word loosley, of topic I watched Mayweather struggle during the first 6 rounds against Judah's straight left, hint hint.

That's why I think Pacquiao is as good as he is, I think people see the same thing they do with Calzaghe and assume that poorer technique can't equate into greatness, yet both of them implement their techniques so well, and in Pacquiao case it is such a huge advantage to possess both blinding speed(of foot and hand), and also power that you can carry up weight classes, this really allows him to retain his speed, and he still is able to hurt guys so they can't just walk all over him.