Cotto's Rebuilding Needs a New Trainer, The Right Fights

Published

By Ryan Burton

Leading up to Manny Pacquiao's demolishing of Miguel Cotto, a lot was written about Miguel Cotto's trainer Joe Santiago, and his lack of experience. An experienced corner and quick reflexes were thought to be Pacquiao's biggest advantages. All of those advantages were proven to be true on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Cotto started out strong in the first round but he didn't and/or couldn't make the adjustments necessary to win the fight and a lot of that has to fall on Santiago. In reality a different trainer wouldn't have changed the final outcome but the fight may have been more competitive.

On the other hand, Pacquiao tasted Cotto's power and knew right away that he could take the punches. With the help of his corner, he was able to adjust and dominate the fight.

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During the post fight press conference in Las Vegas, Bob Arum was asked if Cotto could still compete at the championship. Arum says he could.

"Cotto can compete with any of the top welterweights in the world just not with that super human Manny Pacquiao," Arum said.

While that statement may probaby ring true, let's examine a couple of facts:

1. Cotto has taken a beating in three out of his last four fights.

2. Cotto has regressed under Joe Santiago's tutelage. Most believe that Cotto is training himself and Santiago is the trainer in name only.

Cotto needs a trainer that isn't his friend. He needs a trainer who can crack the whip and make the necessary adjustments to sculp Cotto into an elite fighter again. Wholesale changes aren't necessary but a few minor adjustments can get him back to being the thoroughbred he was.

The trainer he needs is Nacho Beristain.

It really makes perfect sense from a boxing standpoint. Miguel Cotto is a great counter puncher like Juan Manuel Marquez. Cotto's loss further illustrates the greatness of Juan Manuel Marquez and Nacho Beristain. Marquez was too small for Mayweather but has fought the only competitive fights with Manny Pacquiao in recent years and Beristain has to be given a lot of credit for that. Besides the fights with Pacquiao, Marquez's victories over Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz after moving up to lightweight at an advanced age further illustrate the greatness of Beristain.

Admittedly, it is difficult to picture Miguel Cotto running in the mountains outside of Mexico City training for a fight and it is also hard to imagine Nacho Beristain going to Puerto Rico to train Cotto.

What is possible though is Beristain training Cotto in Florida. I don't think Cotto wants to make any excuses for losing his latest fight and firing his trainer could be perceived as an excuse. In reality Cotto doesn't need to fight anymore. He could easily retire but that doesn't seem likely. After the pay-per-view buys are tallied, his purse will easily top the 10 million dollar mark. At the age of 29 he isn't old and he may still be in his prime provided this latest beating didn't leave him like Erik Morales at the same age.

Cotto hiring Beristain is the first move that should be made along with a well needed vacation. During that time, Bob Arum should look at getting Cotto a fight with Ricky Hatton. As reported by BoxingScene.com's Terence Dooley, Hatton told The Sun he was interested in fighting Cotto - if Cotto were to defeat Pacquiao. Actually this fight makes more sense with both men coming off losses to Pacquiao.

A fight like this in Las Vegas brings a lot of money to both fighters and a win puts the winner back in the mix for another mega fight. Hatton hasn't looked good at 147 pounds and if they met at 145 pounds - Cotto would be a significant favorite.

Hatton is a great comeback fight for the Puerto Rican star and during this frame Antonio Margarito will be looking at possibly having his suspension lifted. If Margarito gets reinstated and wins a tuneup or two, and Cotto beats Hatton, it sets up an interesting backdrop, Margarito versus Cotto II. Their first fight did close to 500,000 pay per views and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was close to a full house.

Obviously this time around Margarito's hand wraps would be checked and re-checked more times than Santa Claus checks his Christmas list. A fight with Margarito is a chance at redemption for Cotto. Even though Cotto has said that he won't fight Margarito again, Bob Arum has a way of persuading his fighters to make the fights he wants. Cotto versus Margarito II is a big money maker for Top Rank and both fighters.

A big purse plus a chance to basically erase the controversial loss in the first fight may be enough to entice Cotto. A win over Margarito is far from certain but if he is able to emerge victorious in that fight, and couple it with the win over Hatton, and Cotto is back in position for another super fight.

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Comments

LacrimosaMon Nov 16, 2009, 9:19 PM UTC

I love Cotto an I'm one of his biggest fans but I don't think that Freddie Roach, Nach nor Emmanuell Stewart would had changed the outcome of last night fight, True they can improve him but last night fight Cotto was just facing a Phenom, and the best Boxer of our ERA. Last night GREATNESS GOT EVEN GREATER and there should be no excuses. I do agree that Cotto should prepare himself with a more experienced trainer and select 1 or 2 "easy" fights with the new trainer so the punishment receive can heal and the the relationship with his new trainer can bond. Cotto can still be competitive at WW and with a good trainer he can make some good fights with guys like Mosley, PBF, Berto, Margarito and even Hatton which could be his 2nd fight (not saying it will be considered as a easy one), but that's only if he demonstrates to be "back" after these 2 "easy" fights. Regarding Cotto being "shot", that is something dificult to determine considering the quality of his last 2 oponents. Clottey is a fighter that brings a tough and uncomfortable fight to anybody in the ring, and Pacman is just Pacman, one of the greatest fighters we will ever see in our genereation and he proved it last night. Having said that the age of a boxer is not determine by how old he is but how many rounds, fights and most importantly the punishment he has experienced during his boxing career and if we go by those standards Cotto is getting old as a boxer even at the age of 29. People forget that Cotto started his career very early as an amateur and was inmediatly included in Puerto Rico's boxing team representing his country world wide in boxing tournaments which make it even more physically demanding and faced much better and stronger opponents than a regular amateur would, which adds to the "ageing" as a boxer that I mentioned previously. I personally would like to see him try to rebuild himself, under the circumstances mentioned above but he needs to be very careful how he does it and even if it goes well for him next year, retirement should be considered before he turns 31 (he's 29 now), unless he does get another punishment fight, before that, which should make him hang up his gloves inmediately. Very good post - took the words from many people`s mouthes :) But i disagree on one point. Should Cotto have another trainer in the corner - he could have lost a decision (no KO for sure) or even pull of the upset!

ATL_BoxerMon Nov 16, 2009, 9:10 PM UTC

Well, according to the Primera Hora, Cotto said he's not changing his corner. So Joe Santiago it is at this point. Looks like Cotto won't be making any adjustments sadly. I hope he changes his mind.

GabyMon Nov 16, 2009, 8:00 PM UTC

What you and many others should take into account is that while Cotto needs to get a new team and correct/improve on many aspects of his game these weaknesses have been uncovered while fighting nothing but the best. Other fighters who have ben criticized on this level are? Not one boxer, because no one has fought the caliber of opponents recently that Cotto has. I remember when people said similiar things about Mosely after his losses to Winky. If Cotto fights on he needs to make a change but berating him in the context of the PAc fight is ridiculous. Who else could do the things that Pac did that night? No one in boxing can throw punches with power and speed form those crazy angles and at that pace. 99% of conversations regarding Cotto's loss should lead back to how damn good Pac is, how in the hell is he punching so hard while retaining his speed and more impressive his movement and stamina at this weight is incredible. You have a good point, props to Pacquiao. It would have been really hard to watch Cotto lose to a no-name boxer. We would've had alot more questions then than now. That would have really thrown up a red flag!

alembicMon Nov 16, 2009, 7:49 PM UTC

I don't think Miguel is done even though he's been through more wars with quality opponents than most elite fighters. But adjustments are needed. I don't like the way he fades in the later rounds. Something's not quite right in the prep work. While some fighters like Manny can sustain full-bore effort over 12 rounds, others have stamina issues; and Cotto's camp has to resolve this shortcoming because when their fighter is unable to dominate or put away an opponent early, there's essentially no plan B. What's clear to me is that Cotto hasn't evolved over the years. He brings the same skill set, the same weaknesses. To me, this makes him an exciting athlete; and I absolutely love his warrior spirit. But at championship level fights, these flaws are are going to be exploited. Unless the fighter himself is ready to acknowledge this, he won't make the decisions to implement the necessary changes. Cotto needs a fresh face in his corner, not a family member or a friend of a family. Someone who will insist on investing time on correcting flaws, not just maintaining current weapons. Defensive skills, distance management, intelligent aggression (like the first round of the Pac fight); these are some areas that could benefit from improvement IMO.

DD09Mon Nov 16, 2009, 7:23 PM UTC

actually i does if u think 2 lbs. is nothing than why were they pressing so hard for it? they wanted mosley at 142lbs. if the weight wasnt a factor manny would be going up to ww limit to fight these guys. They did the 145b Limit because they had no idea how Manny would handle a WW of Cotto's caliber. I think he pretty much proved that he can handle a WW. If you seriously think Cotto coming in at 147 would have made a difference then I don't know what to tell you...

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