Devastated
Devastated….
The word describes not only Miguel Cotto’s state of being throughout Saturday’s match-up against Manny Pacquiao, but also how I felt as a fan watching Puerto Rican star being pummeled from pillar to post as I never imagined he could be. Odds makers had Pacquiao up as a 3/1 favourite since the fight was announced, to me a product of the hype surrounding Pacquiao since his rousting of Oscar De La Hoya and the terrifying 2nd Round Knockout he doled out to Ricky Hatton. Unfortunately, by the time Saturday night came around, the odds makers appeared to have been generous in their calculations as Cotto was without answer to Pacquiao’s speed, power, agility and explosiveness. It took everything he had to make it to the 12th before what I felt was a premature stoppage by Kenny Bayless at 0:55 of the final round.
In the lead up to the fight, many journalists and media outlets pitted the fight as a match up between Cotto’s Power and Manny’s Speed. Unfortunately after spending the first round testing Cotto’s power by taking some terrific shots, Manny seemed completely unphased by Cotto’s punches. By the 8th Round, Cotto’s face was a bloody mess, as swollen and bloody as it was in the Margarito fight, while Manny smiled as he walked to his corner, looking fresh enough to shoot a few additional scenes of Wapakman if a call came from the studio.
Unfortunately for Cotto, Manny took the best Puerto-Rican fighter of the decade and pounded him into another speedbump on his road to Canastota. The night will be remembered as the night he cemented his status as an all time great of the sport by taking his 7th Belt in as many weight classes, a feat never before performed.
I however, was not looking forward to seeing more praised heaped onto the Philippino, I watched the fight hoping to see so many critics silenced. You know the ones who said that the Margarito fight, controversial though it was, had changed Cotto forever. Many of whom also said he suffered from slow hands and mechanical feet to begin with. Some of whom even suggested he was a less technically sound version of Fernando Vargas as opposed to a successor to Benitez, Gomez and Trinidad. As game as he looked in training and as much bravado as he displayed at the Weigh-In, it simply was not to be as Cotto had no answer for the Pacman throughout the thrilling 12 round bout.
As a fan of Cotto since his pro debut against Jason Doucet, it was upsetting to watch him beaten as badly as he was this weekend. As a fighter he had periodically reminded me of a mixture of Wilfred Benitez and Jake Lamotta, a hard and vicious body puncher with enough boxing skill and technique to dance away from errand shots when necessary and a skilled enough counter puncher to make sure none of his opponents mistakes were made without consequences. Unfortunately, the last 2 years of Cotto’s career have been hard, and one could argue that his last big win was in 2007 against Shane Mosely. Since then he’s been TKO’d by Pacquiao and Margarito and collected two victories against lackluster opposition in Jennings and Alfonso Gomez as well as a close, controversial win against Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden this summer.
Sitting in the crowd at the Clottey fight, I was reminded that despite his shortcomings, some perceived and some real, Cotto was truly a people’s champion. In fact, it’s arguable that Cotto’s shortcomings are the reason he is so exciting and thus so beloved. Cotto was never able to elude a great fighter the way Mayweather did Marquez earlier this year or thoroughly dominate an elite fighter the way Pacquiao did him this past weekend. Because of that, Cotto has been involved in some truly exhilarating bust-ups in a relatively short career. While his handspeed and defense may be questionable, his grit and heart could never be. Of course, other questions still loom.
The biggest questions for the fighter and his following are related to Cotto’s future. Having suffered such a one-sided loss against the best fighter in his division, should he hang it up? His promoter Bob Arum seems to be grooming his successor in Juan Manuel Lopez, a handsome and charismatic Puerto Rican featherweight who will likely be headlining a July fight in Madison Square Garden the night before the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, a date that has traditionally featured a Cotto fight.
Personally I believe that there are still interesting fights for Cotto, he should take a long break before bouncing back against a second or third tier opponent. Once the requisite tune up is out of the way, there are several potentially exciting, safe fights for him to tackle before going after the elite of the sport. Ricardo Torres, Ricky Hatton, Louis Collazo, Isaac Hlatshwayo, and Vyacheslav Senchenko all come to mind and I’m sure Cotto would perform and conquer all of the above. From there Cotto could move on to the winner of the Berto-Mosely fight in January and recapture a world title, and hopefully go out on a good note.
I don’t believe this is the end for Cotto, as devastated as his fans may be, I think there are several options from him to shake off the ruins of two nights past and open a new chapter in his career, reminding critic and fanatic alike why he has been so highly touted since his amateur days.