
Originally Posted by
jbp23
I was not too impressed with Trout's decision win over Cotto this weekend. It looked to me as if once again Cotto's conditioning failed him. He looked well in from the 3-6 rd, then he got tired. You could clearly see it, his mouth was open, he looked exhausted and I don't think it was due to Trout, because Trout was not punishing him to the body, Trout was not dominating him. I think Cotto's conditioning is what lost him the fight not Trout's performance. This is the 2nd fight in a row that Cotto has gotten tired in the middle rds, against Mayweather after the 8th rd he looked exhausted just like this weekend. and some could argue he was getting tried in the Margarito rematch too. I don't think it's a coincidence that his conditioning issues have come up as soon as he started using his new trainer, Pedro Diaz. Is it possible that Diaz who does not have whole lot of experience training pro fighters is the issue here? Since he spent his whole career training in the amateur program has he brought in an amateur regimen to train a pro fighter?
Looking back at 24/7 and the showtime special about the fight seeing Cotto training under Diaz it seemed to me that the program being used was not strenuous enough, tossing balls in the air, basically juggling, etc. Seeing the training he was doing did not seem enough to prepare him for 12 hard rounds. He then took Cotto to Big Bear, but only for 2 weeks! In order to get the benefit of high altitude training it takes a whole training camp, a hell of a lot more than 2 weeks. If anything it was probably more of a distraction to take him out there.
When Cotto was under Manny Steward he did not get tired in the Foreman fight or Mayorga fight. These conditioning issues have just now come up under his new trainer, Diaz. Normally I would not say Cotto's conditioning was a reason for his loss, but seeing him last Saturday tired after the 7th rd, more like exhausted, he looked like Holyfield in the 3rd Bowe fight. Now Miguel has gotten tired in some of his previous fights, but not like this, and not so early in the fight. Again this happened after the 8th rd in the Mayweather fight. I honestly think he made a mistake by hiring Diaz and it has shown in his past 2 fights. Not only has his conditioning worsened, but bad habits that Steward corrected have come back, such as Miguel hunching over which makes him vulnerable for the uppercut, Manny had him fighting in the middle of the ring, punching with the other fighter, now he has fallen back to going to the ropes, again Manny corrected this and Diaz has allowed these bad habits to come back. Sometimes when a trainer or fighter languishes too long in the amateurs they can't adjust or make the necessary changes in the pros. They have been doing the same regimen for so long they can't change or won't change. I think Cotto's loss was not that Trout was so much better or was just not a winnable fight for Cotto, but his conditioning failed him and his trainer needs to be held responsible for a failed training program.
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