Review Analysis: Cotto-Abdulaev, Casamayor Raiymkulov.

Miguel Cotto redeemed himself once again! He out-boxed and picked apart Mohamad Abdulaev in such an impressive showing, that Cotto’s next fight should be with either Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, Zab “Super” Judah or the winner of the Gatti-Mayweather Jr. mega-fight coming up on June 25 . It wasn’t quite like his bout with Kelson Pinto where Cotto destroyed him in four rounds, but it was a good, technical fight and in the middle of the ninth round, Abdullaev signaled to the referee and to his corner that he could not continue due to his right eye completely closing on him. Mohamad Abdulaev held his own throughout the fight and even had Cotto hurt in a couple of occasions, but like I predicted, Cotto was too much for Abdulaev.

Miguel Cotto’s next fight should be with one of the great champions I just mentioned, but if none of those fights were to come about, there is a certain warrior I’d love to see Cotto get in the ring with, that warrior being David Estrada! Even though Estrada lost to Shane Mosley, he gained my respect that night with his never say die attitude. David Estrada is a tough, well-schooled prospect as he is trained by legendary trainer Angelo Dundee. Estrada has all the right tools to defeat Cotto and has the kind of fighting style that boxing fans love……..brawling!

All I have to say about the Casamayor-“Kid Diamond” bout that went all twelve rounds with the judges calling it a draw is that Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov GOT RIPPED OFF! Even though I wanted Casamayor to be victorious, I feel that “Kid Diamond” should have gotten at the least, a split decision. I’ll tell you what, Raiymkulov is going to do damage in the lightweight division and it is only a matter of time before he wears championship gold around his waist.

Rich Saavedra can be reached at RASBoxing@aol.com