By Dr. Peter Edwards
If there is one thing I learned from watching Miguel Cotto this weekend, the pride of Puerto Rico possesses a heart made of iron. While his heart might very well be made of iron, his chin is more delicate than a fine piece of China.
I remember after the final round of Cotto's bout with DeMarcus Corley, boxing scribe Rick Reeno called me to make a strong case about Cotto possessing a suspect chin. I was skeptical at first, but after watching Cotto's chin almost fail him again, the case appears to be valid.
The signs were there in black and white. For reasons unknown, I just could not see the fine print hitting me right in the face. Cotto outweighed Corley by at least 20 pounds when they entered the ring and, Corley does not have a reputation of being a serious puncher. The reputation is quite the opposite because Corley is known for being a skillful boxer who waits on his opponents in order to counterpunch.
Looking back at the tape, Cotto was in serious trouble that night from a single punch that was landed by a fighter who possesses mediocre power at best. Cotto was all over the ring in that round and it appeared like an upset was going to happen. Once Cotto was hurt, everyone was looking for the finish but, Corley decided to attack the body of Cotto, rather than his head. Upon the conclusion of the bout, Corley admitted that he let Cotto "off the hook".
If Corley hit a little harder or Ricardo Torres had more gas in the tank, Miguel Cotto might have gained at least one blemish on his record.
The one thing holding Cotto back from defeat was his heart. As I watching the 5th round of his bout with Torres, I thought there was no way possible that Cotto was making it out of the round, but he proved me wrong. Cotto was badly hurt and Torres was beating him up from one ring post to the other. I could not believe that he was able to stay on his feet to finish that round. In the second round, another round where Torres had him in serious trouble, Cotto was able to come off the floor and staged a two fisted rally at the end of the round to hurt Torres.
Top Rank, the promoters of Miguel Cotto and HBO, who hold an exclusive contract with Cotto, are trying to market him as second coming of Felix Trinidad. The one thing I can say about Cotto is he is no Felix Trinidad. While I personally feel that Cotto will never reach the superstar heights of Tito, he is probably going to end up being known as a far more exciting fighter to watch. With the exception of Fernando Vargas and David Reid, most of Trinidad's fights were one sided in one direction or the other. With the exception of Trinidad's bout with Bernard Hopkins, he was never in any serious danger of being stopped. Cotto has already two fights under his belt where he was out on his feet, close to being knocked out and came back to knock his opponent out.
Also, I think Cotto is not a one-dimensional fighter like Trinidad. Oscar De La Hoya exposed him, Bernard Hopkins got the coffin ready and Winky Wright shut it. Against Torres, Cotto was dealing with a fighter who was possibly more stronger than him and he adjusted his game plan in order to win the fight. When he saw that slugging it out with Torres was putting him in danger, he decided to stop headhunting and concentrate on the body.
Over the course of seven grueling rounds, the body attack of Cotto paid off. He eventually broke down the body of Torres and because Torres was so cautious of continuously getting hit to the body, he left himself open and Cotto capitalized by landing power shots to the head.
After the smoke cleared, most fans were questioning his chin, but nobody could question his heart. If he keeps fighting bouts in such an exciting fashion, he will gain an Arturo Gatti like stature as a fighter. A fighter who regardless of who they are fighting, you have to watch them because of the drama involved.
Miguel Cotto is going to be in a constant battle between his jaw and his heart. For now, his heart is coming out on top. Let's hope that he brings us more Ricardo Torres type of battles because the sport is in a real shortage of Miguel Cotto type of fighters.
