Defining Cotto's Legacy: Canelo Alvarez
In light of Miguel Cotto's upcoming megabout with Canelo Saul Alvarez, it amazes me that people still speak of Cotto as the former champion he once was.
In his prime Cotto was a rare breed of boxer puncher with pound for pound skill and willing to test it against any and all opponents. Cotto has represented his nation of Puerto Rico tastefully, and is undoubtedly a future hall-of-famer.
Valid or not, Cotto has largely become a former great boxer who is now difficult to negotiate fights with. He's a business man who burns bridges jumping ship to RocNation Sports even though Bob Arum and Top Rank helped make him relevent again [Source]. Cotto now leverages catch weights to his advantage [Source] and avoided Canelo and other top quality opponents to milk out a couple of easy pay checks.
Fast forward to 2015 and Cotto's legacy will largely be defined by his fight with Canelo Alvarez. Fans await to see if Cotto is like a butterfly in his final stages ready to fly off in the sunset or whether he can pull off the upset and prove there's a lot of life left in his career. The Canelo fight will prove whether Freddie Roach has improved Cotto or if he has simply been the same "B" level fighter facing "C" class opponents.
One of my favorite boxing writers, Daniel Roberts, wrote about Cotto's declining career after the 2nd Margarito fight. A lot has happened since but it's a great piece on what largely defines Cotto even to this day. If Cotto can beat or even manage to give us a great war with Canelo I do believe he'll erase alot of the stigma that surrounds him today. Enjoy the read.
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@ironmikegallego
It is not possible to discuss Miguel Cotto without discussing his first fight with Antonio Margarito. It was among the bloodiest, ugliest, most exhilarating spectacles in a sport that is all about people choking on their own blood through fevered gasps. It was epic.
At the time, Cotto was an undefeated champion. An ascendant star, fresh off a defining win over Shane Mosley, and poised to challenge De La Hoya, Mayweather, and the other heavyweights of the welterweight division. Margarito was the division's widow maker. A gangly ruiner of men, a guy who had literally punched Sebastian Lujan's ear off his head. A guy who weighed 147 lbs the day before the fight and 174 lbs for the fight itself. A non-stop whirlwind of looping punches, anger, and willfulness.
Early on, Cotto was having his way. Margarito marched Cotto down, and Cotto would use his superior skill and technique to flurry and escape. But Margarito was relentless. Margarito was unflappable. Margarito was the goddamned Terminator. The original Terminator, not the computer-enhanced version. The only who kept coming with its skin burned off, using clunky stop-motion effects that somehow only made his lack of humanity more frightening. That's Antonio Margarito.
By the middle rounds, the only question was whether Cotto could finish the fight on his feet. If he could, he'd win. But what a giant if. Slowly, methodically, terrifyingly, Margarito broke Cotto down. He crushed his liver with brutal body punches. He melted Cotto's handsome face like he stared upon the Ark of the Covenant. By the late rounds, Cotto's tan skin had turned a sickly yellow, his face a mask of blood and hopelessness. In the final moments, Cotto turned his back and walked away fromMargarito, before kneeling on his knees in the ultimate act of submission.
Miguel Cotto has fought many times that night, but Miguel Cotto is no more. He's a name. A hollow soul wearing a suit of tired flesh, now covered in tattoos. The lethal punching power, the viciousness in his eyes, the desire, are all gone. He's a businessman now. He's Ice Cube doing 22 Jump Street.
Later, it would come out that Margarito's gloves were likely loaded with concrete as he battered away the last remnants of the living Cotto. It was a disgusting turn in a play about a depraved act being performed to titillate the most wretched among us. Somehow, the beating was even worse knowing what caused it, even that we had already enjoyed it for what it was.
Cotto got a rematch with Margarito a few years later. Margarito, too, it seemed, had never recovered from that evening. Months later, a lifeless shell of Margarito had been knocked out by Shane Mosley. Then, Manny Pacquiao beat Margaritobeyond recognition, leading to permanent eye damage. It was a reminder that even the Terminator ultimately dies at the end of the movie. When Cotto rematched Margarito, neither man was really there. It was a spectacle that rivaled the original for sheer sadness, an aging Cotto with no oomph on his fastball slowing closing shut an eye that another man had already ruined. Cotto got the win that night, but he didn't recover his soul. Nothing will ever give him that back.
Watching the husk of Cotto beat yet another damaged fighter is hardly enjoyable and barely sport. It was an exhibition and a sad one. Miguel Cotto will indeed probably fight again next year at MSG. Here's hoping few of us tune in to watch it.
