By Rick Reeno (Photo By Tom Casino)
Tonight we saw one of the worst refereeing jobs that I have ever seen in my life. The referee was very incompetent , he repeatedly let Cotto hit Corley after the bell, he let Cotto push Corley down, he let Cotto hit Corley while he was holding him and on the break. The ref took points away from both fighters for low blows without even a single warning.
Miguel Cotto came into the ring outweighing DeMarcus Corley by almost 20 pounds. Corley was 140 pounds while Cotto came in the ring weighing a very unfair 157. The weight advantage was apparent in the first round as Cotto rushed Corley and tried to put him away in one round. Corley went down in the first from hard shots, rather then cave in, Corley started to stand and fight Cotto toe to toe.
Cotto lost a point in the second round for a bad low blow. In the third round the fight swung in the other direction. Corley rocked Miguel Cotto and had him out on his feet when he landed a chopping right hand to the head of Cotto in the first minute of the round. If the opponent tonight was Tszyu, Mayweather or Gatti, Cotto would have never made it out of the round. Cotto had no idea where he was for almost two minutes as Corley went with the wrong gameplan to finish the job. Corley decided to attack the body of Cotto rather then the head, Corley admitted after the fight that he blew the chance to knock Cotto out.
In the fourth round, Corley lost a point for landing a low blow on Cotto. After Cotto took a few moments to recover from the low blow, he and Corley resumed a toe to toe battle of power punches with very few jabs being thrown.
In the fifth round, Corley went down from a hard bodyshot. Corley beat the count and Cotto tried to jump on him. Corley took a mandatory knee to give himself some time to weather the storm and out of nowhere the referee stopped the fight. Cotto did not land any punches, Corley did not appear to be in serious trouble and the ref just stopped it. A very biased hometown stoppage, Corley was right on the money when he said that if anything, the ref should have stopped the fight when Cotto's legs went to jelly in the third round.
I personally feel that Cotto would have ended up winning the fight regardless, but a lot can happen in a twelve round fight, seven rounds remained in the battle. While Cotto got the win tonight, it was a sour victory which did not make him look a level higher in my eyes, it made him look a level lower. After watching Cotto fight numerous times prior to tonight's fight, I saw him as a rising fighter that could be unbeatable, tonight Cotto looked very beatable.
Corley said after the fight that Top Rank told him that he would get a rematch, if I was Corley, I would not hold my breath for a rematch. Top Rank will not let their future gravy train get derailed prior to landing him a superfight or two in the talent rich 140 pound weight class.
