Boxing Preview: Miguel Cotto – Gianluca Branco

This Saturday sees Miguel Cotto return to the ring to defend his WBO Junior Welterweight crown against challenger Gianluca Branco on a Top Rank promotion televised by HBO. This marks the fifth occasion that the WBO titlist has put his belt at risk but by the time Cotto had won his fifteenth fight as a professional, many Puerto Rican boxing fans

had already crowned him their heir apparent to Felix “Tito” Trinidad, at that point still a world champion. Thus far, Cotto, 25-0 (21), has not disappointed his fellow countrymen. The left hooking body puncher has won all of his fights and survived near losses to DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley and Ricardo Torres. Along the way, Cotto became a world champion by adding the WBO Junior Welterweight title to his resume.

2006 marks Cotto’s fifth year anniversary as a professional fighter and he stands at the threshold of participating in career defining contests. Trinidad defeated De La Hoya and Vargas in his two big fights and in order to succeed “Tito” and build a boxing legacy of his own, Cotto must now face and defeat the top fighters in and around his weight class. Qualified opponents that could potentially test Cotto in such a manner would be Ricky Hatton, Jose Luis Castillo and Floyd Mayweather. Its no secret that for years now, Cotto has had problems making the 140lb division and if those super fights do happen, it will likely be at welterweight, where the pride of Puerto Rico plans to campaign in 2007.

In order to make the aforementioned fights a reality, Cotto must first successfully defend his WBO title against Italy’s Gianluca Branco, 36-1-1 (17), this Saturday in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. If successful against Branco, Cotto will make his annual pilgrimage to Madison Square Garden in a proposed clash against Brooklyn’s Paul Malignaggi, 21-0 (5), on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade, something the undefeated champion relishes. “I love New York; I don’t have any problem fighting every year in New York before the parade,” said Cotto.

While Branco is a former European Champion, his only noteworthy fight at world class level was a decision loss to Arturo Gatti on January 24, 2004 for the vacant WBC Junior Welterweight belt. Branco may not be on Cotto’s level, but he is a rugged, durable opponent who will come to fight this Saturday. He is also another carefully picked adversary in what to date has been a brilliantly managed career.

Realizing what’s at stake in the future, Cotto has made some adjustments to his training camp by leaving Puerto Rico and electing to prepare in Deerfield Beach, Florida for this fight. When questioned regarding this change, he would only say “There were a few worries that our team had. This was done in an effort to be more focused; the big fights lie ahead. This is not what I am normally accustomed to, but its good for all of us. It will show on the fourth.” Perhaps the focus that Cotto referred to was not there while preparing for his most recent bout, a title defense against the very tough Ricardo Torres of Colombia, in Atlantic City last year.

It was an exciting toe to toe action packed fight in which both men would suffer knockdowns. Cotto prevailed by eventually knocking out Torres in the seventh round, but not before he himself was almost stopped. Against Torres, Cotto not only showed physical toughness, but that of a mental nature as well. He will need to maintain that toughness and focus if he is to prevail over the more elite fighters that he’ll likely face in the future.

Miguel Cotto should defeat Branco without any problems and retain his WBO Junior Welterweight title with a fifth round TKO on Saturday.