by David P. Greisman
 
The biggest fight last week wasn’t seen on television.
 
The biggest fight last week didn’t take place in a boxing ring.
 
The biggest fight last week was a blood feud, nephew against uncle, boxer versus trainer, Miguel Cotto throwing down with Evangelista Cotto, throwing his longtime cornerman out of his camp and then, in their rematch shortly thereafter, watching as Evangelista threw a cement block at him.
 
That cement block crashed through the passenger window of Miguel’s brand-new Jaguar, a symbolic shattering of a relationship that, through 34 fights, had brought Cotto title reigns at junior welterweight and welterweight, and millions of dollars in paydays.
 
This Caguas clash has collapsed Cotto’s camp just two months before his June 13 fight with fellow welterweight beltholder Joshua Clottey. Now Cotto must turn the proverbial corner, turning to an unfamiliar face and an unfamiliar voice to stand by and support him in the heat of battle.
 
Reports from Puerto Rico say Miguel and Evangelista butted heads over a training plan. Miguel wanted to move his camp to Florida. Evangelista objected, telling Miguel, “I’m the boss here,” according to witnesses who spoke with a local newspaper.
 
Miguel then fired Evangelista. The disagreement escalated from verbal to physical. Evangelista allegedly attacked his nephew. Miguel allegedly retaliated.
 
The situation eventually calmed down. But Evangelista later confronted Miguel again, throwing the cement block through Miguel’s car. Police were called to the scene, and Evangelista was hospitalized for injuries from a punch Miguel allegedly landed to his face. One newspaper reported that Evangelista had a broken nose, plus pain in his neck and back. Miguel apparently suffered a cut on his nose.
 
The incidents remain under police investigation, though no charges have been filed yet.
 
“This is a very personal matter and a family matter, and therefore I would like to have some space and respect for my privacy to deal with the situation,” Miguel Cotto said in a translated statement.
 
“From this day forward, Evangelista Cotto will not be a part of my corner, but everyone knows that I will continue to work tirelessly for my next fight,” he said.
 
This was far from the first battle in what had sometimes been a contentious relationship.
 
The most visible spat came in May 2007, when Miguel was ringside for a lightweight title fight pitting his older brother, Jose Miguel Cotto, against Prawet Singwangcha. Between the ninth and 10th rounds, Jose Miguel appeared to have a physical confrontation with Evangelista, commotion that visually upset Miguel. Evangelista was angered enough that he sat out the remaining two rounds of the bout.
 
Jose Miguel has not fought since. Miguel and Evangelista continued to work together.
 
Until last week.
 
Other fighters have had family members in their corners. Though the mixing of their professional and personal lives rarely led to physical confrontations, there have been several recent cases where domestic disputes caused fathers and sons to go their separate ways.
 
Shane Mosley fired his father, Jack Mosley, on two separate occasions. The first time came in March 2004, after Shane lost in his first bout against Winky Wright. Shane went four fights without Jack, rehiring him prior to his July 2006 rematch with Fernando Vargas. Shane let Jack go again in November, two months before Shane took on Antonio Margarito.
 
Roy Jones Jr. fired his father, Roy Jones Sr., in 1992. Thirteen years later, Roy Sr. was back in his son’s corner, there for his rubber match with Antonio Tarver.
 
Roy Jr. lost that bout, and he later said his father had distracted him. Roy Jr. felt that, had he gone on to beat Tarver, his father would’ve taken credit for the victory. But Roy Sr. was once more working as co-trainer earlier this year when Roy Jr. faced Omar Sheika.
 
Jack Mosley still supported his son. And Roy Sr. returned to his son’s camp when he was asked to do so, without a grudge.
 
Blood is thicker than money.
 
And so, for example, Zab Judah can get into a rumored argument with his father, Yoel, a fight that led Zab to, ahem, accidentally put his arm through a shower door. That shattered glass can be swept under the rug.
 
A young Floyd Mayweather Jr. was once trained by his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., but his professional career saw him thrive under the guidance of his uncle Roger. The relationship between Floyd Jr. and Floyd Sr. has always been portrayed as a clash of personalities. Once in the latter part of his career, Floyd Jr. allowed his father to be in the gym and watch him train for a fight. That didn’t last long, and Floyd Jr. moved on.
 
That is what Miguel Cotto must do, and it is a task that could be easier because Evangelista is his uncle and not his father, because their relationship had become one of professional necessity rather than personal preference.
 
But it is a big change from what Cotto had long been comfortable with, in whatever way that phrase pertains to the bond between fighter and trainer. It is a big change that, should it prove to be a distraction, could send ripples through the welterweight division.
 
Antonio Margarito has had his license revoked in the United States, keeping him from fighting in America for at least a year. Paul Williams is competing in higher weight classes. Cotto and Shane Mosley are the two top remaining names at 147. Joshua Clottey wants that recognition.
 
Cotto had worked through his problems with his uncle, shutting out whatever issues they had for the moments in training camp and on fight night when such focus most counted. The question becomes whether he will be able to do the same when he faces Clottey.
 
When he returns to his corner in the minute intervals between rounds, he will be working for the first time with a trainer whom he has known for less than two months, a man with whom he shares neither biology nor chemistry.

The 10 Count
 
1.  Paul Williams just can’t win – no matter how often he wins. The more he comes out victorious, the less other fighters want to face him.
 
Williams has jumped from welterweight to middleweight to junior middleweight. This past weekend he returned to middleweight and faced a true test at 160 pounds, taking a one-sided decision over Winky Wright.
 
Yes, Wright was returning from a layoff of one year and 262 days. Yes, Wright is 37-year-old whose best days came in the 154-pound weight class. But Wright is a capable veteran. If he is old and rusty, Williams did a lot to make sure he looked so.
 
Williams frustrated Wright with consistent activity. It’s not that Wright hasn’t faced a whirlwind fighter before – three years ago he beat Sam Soliman, landing enough clean, hard shots to take the decision against an opponent who never stopped throwing.
 
But Soliman is shorter than Wright. Williams is tall and rangy. Wright was rarely at a comfortable distance for countering Williams, and Williams was able to kick his offense into an even higher gear as Wright slowed down.
 
Williams threw 1,086 shots, landing 247. Wright sent out 511 punches, landing 116. The gap was just as wide on the scorecards. Williams won 119-109 (twice) and 120-108.

2.  It would help Williams if he offered his opponents enough reward to go with the risk. How empty did that Las Vegas casino sound? Only next month’s rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver can give Williams-Wright a run for this year’s biggest box office bust featuring two marquee fighters.

3.  Politics and Pugilism: You might scoff, but at this point in his life Travis Simms should want to be nothing like Manny Pacquiao, Vitali Klitschko and Joe Mesi.
 
After all, those three ran for local office and lost.
 
Pacquiao lost in his campaign for a seat in Congress in his native Philippines; Klitschko came up short in his bid to become mayor of Kiev; and Joe Mesi was defeated in his race for a seat in New York’s state senate.
 
Simms, a former 154-pound beltholder, is running for a seat on the Common Council of Norwalk, Conn.
 
Simms, 37, actually sued the city in 2007, claiming the two-year layoff from boxing he was coming off from was not due to legal battles with the World Boxing Association and Don King, but rather from a ruptured right Achilles tendon suffered during a Jan. 2005 basketball game.
 
Simms, who was playing in an adult basketball league sponsored by the city, argued that Norwalk’s Recreation and Parks Department failed to upgrade the gym floor and did not provide adequate lighting, thereby creating hazardous conditions that led to his injury.
 
In the time since, Simms lost his belt, spent another 13 months on the sideline, won a six-round bout against some dude with a 12-34-2 record and, according to the Stamford Advocate, settled his lawsuit for an unspecified amount that will go toward recreation programs for children.
 
After all that drama, running for office should seem easy…

4.  Professional football players have successfully run for office. Among them: Jack Kemp, Steve Largent, Heath Shuler and J.C. Watts, all of whom won seats in Congress.
 
Ditto for professional basketball players: Bill Bradley was a senator, and Kevin Johnson is the mayor of Sacramento.
 
Heck, even former professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota.
 
So why not a boxer?

5.  Boxers Behaving Badly update, part one: So much for Johnny Tapia’s reality television debut.
 
The troubled former three-division titlist was set to do a stint on VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” as part of his sentence following a recent cocaine relapse and subsequent arrest for violating probation. He would’ve spent nine days in jail beforehand, followed by a May 16 boxing match. After “Celebrity Rehab,” he would have spent six months in an intensive rehab facility in New Mexico.
 
But a parole board must approve Tapia’s parole plan, according to New Mexico television station KOB. That process usually takes 60 days.
 
Tapia’s lawyers are looking to expedite the process.
 
Tapia, 42, has a history of cocaine use, the details of which have been chronicled in this space too often.

6.  Boxers Behaving Badly update, part two: Former junior middleweight and middleweight titlist Harry Simon is out of prison after serving 21 months of a two-year sentence for a motor vehicle crash that killed two Belgian tourists and their 22-month-old child, according to Namibian newspaper Informante.
 
That 2002 crash saw a car Simon was driving in Namibia collide head-on with another vehicle. And it wasn’t Simon’s only fatal crash that year. Two people died in that first crash, which happened earlier in 2002.
 
Simon’s early release comes as a result of a presidential reprieve, the newspaper reported.
 
“For some the sentence was too lenient, but for me – it was an eye opener,” Simon wrote in a letter while in prison. “If I could turn back the clock I would correct my actions.
 
“I have survived two fatal car accidents, but precious lives were lost. To the bereaved families, I am very sorry. But sorry will never be enough. I ask forgiveness in your hearts. It was never my intention to cause anyone such loss.”
 
Simon, 36, retired undefeated in 2002. He returned five years later with a win over some dude named Stephen Nzuemba. That fight, which came months before he was put behind bars, brought Simon’s record to 24-0, with 17 knockout wins.

7.  Enjoyed HBO’s night of boxing, which included two hours of boxing beyond the network’s broadcast of “World Championship Boxing.”
 
First, “Thrilla in Manila,” a documentary about the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, brought out several of the themes seen in Mark Kram’s fantastic book, “Ghosts of Manila.”
 
Second, the premiere episode of “Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7” helped turn our attention toward the first super-fight of the year, one that is just three weeks away. We’ll brush off the unintended slight against Hatton, the lineal junior welterweight champion of the world, who should have his name listed first.
 
Side note: I’m looking forward to “Tyson,” the documentary about the troubled former heavyweight champion. The trailer for that film is available on the Internet. Those few minutes captured why Tyson was just as fascinating to follow outside the ring as he was riveting inside.

8.  One question: What is HBO’s fascination with Ricky Hatton’s exposed rear end?
 
The Hitman’s hindquarters, seen on past programming, returned twice Saturday night, first on the episode of “Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7,” and then in a clip replayed during the “World Championship Boxing” broadcast.
 
As if we needed to see Hatton in a thong again. Then again, this is also the network that airs “G-String Divas.”

9.  Desperate times call for desperate measures. I noted last week that all-time-great Thomas Hearns allegedly owes $448,190 in back taxes to the federal government and the state of Michigan.
 
This week, I must report that Hearns is apparently earning some of that money back by… playing tic-tac-toe with a chicken.
 
Yes, I really just typed that.
 
Hearns was kicking off a casino’s promotion in which people get one shot at beating, um, Ginger the Casino Chicken in a game of tic-tac-toe, according to a press release (via sports blog Deadspin). Those who beat the chicken get $100 in casino credit.
 
Hearns and Ginger went head to head (nose to beak?) twice. One game ended in a draw, while Hearns won the other.
 
No word if Hearns got paid for the appearance, or if he was there in hopes of turning that casino credit into a larger payday.

10.  Hearns wore boxing gloves, robe and title belt to the match. I’m surprised the World Boxing Council didn’t try to exact a sanctioning fee…
 
What, you think that, of all things, would be too low of them?

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com