By Thomas Gerbasi
If boxing fans had their way, WBA junior middleweight boss Miguel Cotto would be in the gym right now, looking to follow up his June win over Yuri Foreman with one more bout before the bell tolls on 2010.
But boxing fans don’t get a lot of what they’re wishing for, especially this year, so the Boricua Bomber, after shoulder surgery in August, is on the mend and not expecting to be back in the gym until the New Year.
“Everything is better than we expected after the surgery,” Cotto told BoxingScene. “We’re going back into the training sessions in January.”
Cotto is staying busy though, and he’s currently in London for the UFC Fan Expo at Earls Court Exhibition Centre. That’s not really a big surprise, considering that the former welterweight and junior welterweight champion is a fan of mixed martial arts and that he also trained with two of his stablemates under the Ecko Unlimited brand, UF C lightweight contender Kurt P ellegrino and former WEC bantamweight champ Miguel Angel Torres, earlier this year in New Jersey.
“I went there with Pellegrino and Torres and I think the chemistry we created in Jersey was the key factor to have the relationship we have right now,” said Cotto. “We can use our boxing skills in the ring, and they can mix in other styles of fighting, but I learned a lot when I trained with those guys in Jersey.”
Not to worry though, as Cotto has no plans to follow James Toney into the Octagon.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m in my business of boxing, and I don’t think I’m gonna be an MMA fighter.”
He will be back in the ring next year though, and while Bob Arum told the Orange County Register last week that he’s interested in having Cotto face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. if the son of the future Hall of Famer gets by Alfonso Gomez in December, the champ was non-committal on such a showdown, saying simply, “We just have to sit and talk about the probability of making the fight.”
Cotto-Chavez could be a nice appetizer for a rematch with the winner of next month’s Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito bout though, and that’s a bout the Caguas native is certainly watching closely.
“I think that’s going to be a tough fight,” he said. “I don’t have a choice, but it’s going to be exciting.”
For now though, boxing will take a back seat to some M M A this weekend on his first trip to London, and enjoying the holidays.
“This is my first time in London,” said Cotto, “and I’m looking forward to sharing time with the fans over there.”
There is plenty of boxing action this weekend though, and after a bit of a dry spell, the fall season really kicks into gear with a lot of intriguing matchups.
Of course, the biggie is the WBC heavyweight title fight between Vitali Klitschko and Shannon Briggs in Germany. Call me crazy – and you will – but I’m not about to completely count Briggs out of this one. Maybe 75% worth, but not the whole 100%. Why? Maybe I’m sentimental, as Briggs has always been one of my favorite fighters to interview, and we are both Brooklyn natives. But as far as hard, cold facts go, he’s still deceptively quick, still able to get anyone’s attention with his power, and if he actually dedicated himself to the gym for what has to be his last title opportunity, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he can capture lightning in a bottle and upset the elder Klitschko brother. But if I had to go out on a limb and make a pick, I’d say Klitschko by clear-cut decision or late round stoppage. If Briggs was going to take out a Klitschko, his chance was always better with Wladimir.
Speaking of heavyweights, Friday night will see Antonio Tarver make his debut among the big boys against Nagy Aguilera. Now let’s get right down to brass tacks – unless he is completely shot at 41 years old, Tarver won’t lose in his ShoBox debut. He may not look particularly good doing it, but there should be enough guile in him to beat the limited – at best – Aguilera. The question is, what happens next? And that’s one not many people want to see answered. Sure, I get it when it comes to being a lifelong competitor and not being able to find the rush that comes from fighting and hearing the roar crowd anywhere else. But Tarver, who has already had a solid career as one of the best light heavyweights of this era and who is getting better and better as a color commentator, simply has no business fighting in the heavyweight division. And if his last two performances – listless decision defeats to Chad Dawson, the last one nearly a year and a half ago – are any indication, he shouldn’t be fighting at all. Yet though I can hear it now – “Gerbasi says it’s all right for Ray Oliveira to fight but not Tarver.” – I’ll stick to my guns with this one. The heavyweight division is in bad shape, but not that bad that it needs to look to Antonio Tarver to save it.
But there may be hope for the sport’s glamour division in unbeaten Golden Boy Prospects Seth Mitchell and Deontay Wilder, both of whom fight Friday night on a Solo Boxeo card in Indio, California. Each guy is athletic, they both can punch, and it’s getting to that point where they’re going to start getting tested. In fact, Mitchell, a former All-American linebacker for Michigan State University, has started amping up his level of comp with early knockouts of 22-1 Johnnie White and veteran fringe contender Derek Bryant this year.
The Telefutura card also an interesting scrap between unbeaten Eloy Perez and former hot prospect Dominic Salcido, but the most intriguing prospect on US TV Friday night is definitely Shawn Porter, who puts his perfect record on the line against Hector Munoz in the ShoBox opener. Porter really looks like the real deal, and a win over Munoz will earn him the NABF welterweight title and start him on the road to a title shot, maybe by late-2011.
Unfortunately, what could end up being the best fight of the weekend, Lucian Bute’s IBF super middleweight title defense against Jesse Brinkley, is not being televised here, which baffles me, considering the champion’s consistent performances (he has knocked out his last three challengers – Fulgencio Zuniga, Librado Andrade, and Edison Miranda), his growing stature as one of the best in the game, and Brinkley’s willingness to scrap if he has to. In fact, as good as Bute has looked as of late, I consider Brinkley, the former ‘Contender’ star, to be a live underdog at the Bell Centre in Montreal. And that’s without even mentioning the atmosphere for Bute’s fights North of the Border, which adds an element of excitement and drama to each bout.
And since we’re on the topic of super middleweights, here’s my first and last word on the Andre Dirrell situation: If he wanted to get out of fighting Andre Ward, for whatever reason, why not just claim a back injury, which can be as undetectable and ambiguous as they come? Would you really claim a head injury if it wasn’t true? Those claims by the amateur conspiracy theorists make no sense, and maybe the delays in making the fight came from the fact that this is an injury that Dirrell’s camp was aware of from the start, and hence they dragged out negotiations in the hopes of it clearing up. Finally, there was no more room to maneuver and the truth came out. But head injuries in boxing or in any sport are no laughing matter and no mere negotiating ploy. So all I’ll say is that I’m hoping for a speedy recovery for the former Olympian.
But what do I know, I’m just rambling…
