by David P. Greisman
We lead off with an anecdote of recent vintage.
Earlier this month I spoke with Demetrius Andrade, a junior-middleweight titleholder who had temporarily taken a seat directly behind me on press row in Montreal. He was there solely as a spectator. He wasn’t boxing on the card. Indeed, he hasn’t fought since June of last year.
Toward the end of 2014, Andrade had opted against facing Jermell Charlo, saying the timing wasn’t right and the money wasn’t enough. I asked about this, noting that Zab Judah had once taken a relatively small sum for his rematch with Cory Spinks but had knocked Spinks out, winning the welterweight championship and bigger paydays down the road. The sacrifice for Judah, humbling himself in negotiations, turned out to be worth it.
Andrade said he’d already made similar sacrifices for past fights and that it was time for him to cash in on those investments. And besides, he said, after turning down the Charlo fight late last year he’d been offered more money to face him in 2015. Andrade said he’d accepted that deal but Charlo had opted to face Vanes Martirosyan on March 27 instead.
What wasn’t said was that had Andrade taken the Charlo fight and won in December 2014, he might’ve been in another fight as soon as March or April of 2015. Now he’s still waiting on his next appearance. In essence, he’s missed out on at least one potential payday, if not two.
That’s the kind of approach many boxers take these days. It’s why boxers such as Gennady Golovkin are labeled throwback fighters when they have four bouts in the span of one calendar year. Yet praise for those like Golovkin doesn’t necessary mean damnation for those who approach boxing as a business.
Yes, we criticize and mock those who sabotage their careers with extended layoffs or who negotiate themselves out of significant fights and sizable paydays. All of that can fall by the wayside rather quickly. The cliché of “You’re only as good as your last win” has often been used to criticize good fighters coming off less than impressive performances. It also can apply, however, to a boxer who picks up a big victory long after that matchup was initially desired.
The winner of the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will still have bragging rights even though their collision is coming five years after it should’ve. If light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson faces and defeats Sergey Kovalev by the end of 2015 or early in 2016, their pairing will be even more monumental than it would’ve been and Stevenson’s headshaking business moves since early 2014 will no longer be as important.
The same goes for Miguel Cotto — if the lineal middleweight champion and former titleholder at 140, 147 and 154 does something of note in 2015.
That’s a big if, because Cotto hasn’t done squat since he destroyed and dethroned Sergio Martinez in June 2014. He hasn’t faced former junior-middleweight titleholder Canelo Alvarez. He didn’t get a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. And he seems not at all interested in defending against the best 160-pound fighter in the world, the power-punching Gennady Golovkin.
Cotto vs. Canelo seemed destined to happen. Alvarez had won a controversial split decision over Erislandy Lara last summer, about a month after Cotto’s win against Martinez. There had been talk about Cotto and Alvarez meeting each other in 2015, with each taking interim bouts beforehand. Alvarez was to face Joshua Clottey, while Cotto would find an opponent who could keep him busy. Alvarez pulled out of the Clottey fight with an injury. Cotto didn’t fight again in 2014.
Canelo’s team continued to negotiate with Cotto for 2015, though they were unable to come to an agreement with Cotto within their self-imposed deadline. Alvarez’s team was looking at a May 2 date, the traditional weekend for big boxing pay-per-views aligned with the annual Cinco De Mayo holiday. With time running short, they picked James Kirkland as Alvarez’s opponent for May 2, then pushed the date back a week to May 9 after Mayweather vs. Pacquiao was announced for 5/2.
Cotto may have been holding out as an option for Mayweather had a Pacquiao deal not been consummated. He didn’t get the Mayweather rematch, and he’s cost himself — for now — the Canelo bout, which would’ve been the biggest box office and pay-per-view attraction not involving Floyd or Manny. Cotto is the most popular Puerto Rican star in the sport since Felix Trinidad. Alvarez is an icon in Mexico and among Mexican-American fans.
Instead, Cotto is expected to soon announce his opponent for a presumed June date at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which has become his second home and where he has been a regular headliner. The names being floated are less than inspiring, including nearly 42-year-old 154-pound titleholder Cornelius Bundrage and a middleweight named Jorge Heiland, who is coming off a knockout of Matthew Macklin. It’ll be his first bout under promoter Roc Nation Sports, the fledgling outfit owned by rapper Jay-Z.
Cotto’s legacy was set before he fought Martinez. But now that he’s the middleweight champion — even if he’s not seen as being the best at 160 — some boxing fans expect him to carry the mantle and defend his claim.
Cotto didn’t seem one to duck big challenges in the past. After winning a world title at 140 and defending it successfully six times, Cotto moved up to welterweight and added another belt with a destruction of Carlos Quintana. He soon stopped Zab Judah and then out-boxed Shane Mosley. By 2008, Cotto had made four successful defenses at welterweight and was ready to face another of the top 147-pounders, the dangerous Antonio Margarito. Their grueling war ended with Cotto broken down in the 11th round. Cotto still fought tough afterward, including a split decision win in a close battle with Joshua Clottey in 2009, followed by a technical knockout loss to Pacquiao later that year.
Cotto’s title reign at 154 was much less impressive. He stopped a hobbled Yuri Foreman, took out a shopworn Ricardo Mayorga, then exacted revenge over a faded and perhaps half-blinded Margarito. All of those wins landed Cotto a shot at Mayweather in 2012, which Mayweather won. Cotto then took on another tough opponent, losing a decision to Austin Trout. He came back with a quick win over Delvin Rodriguez in late 2013 before beating Martinez last year.
He is the middleweight champion. He has the World Boxing Council belt. He’s not defended them yet, nor has he fought any of the other titleholders or top contenders.
Golovkin’s team believes Cotto will never fight “GGG.” They think he’s more likely to maneuver himself toward a major payday, perhaps if Canelo is still available later in 2015. Golovkin is too powerful, too good, and too likely to punish Cotto in a way he hasn’t experienced since Margarito and Pacqiao.
Though Canelo would be coming up from 154 to a presumed catch-weight somewhere south of 160, he’s naturally larger and heavier than Cotto. Nevertheless, his style is a better match-up for Cotto. And their respective stardom, combined with the longstanding rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican fighters, would make for far more money.
We’re waiting for Cotto, but Cotto doesn’t care. That’s because he’s still in the position to wait for the opportunities that best suit him, even if it means taking lesser opponents or sitting out for the short term. He still has a title. And even that can be jettisoned so long as he still has his name.
We call boxers like Golovkin “throwback fighters” because they appear four times a year, in contrast with the two or three bouts that other have. Cotto follows another philosophy. He is a superstar who limits his appearances.
He’s able to get away with it. After all, there are stars in the sky every night. We rarely linger to look until there’s a rare event — a comet or an eclipse or a planetary alignment.
Cotto’s fans will still come out in June no matter who he faces. And boxing fans will still pay for Cotto’s next big fight, whenever and against whomever that comes.
The 10 Count will return soon.
“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com