Miguel Cotto-The Roberto Duran Road?

Miguel Cotto: the Roberto Duran Road By Saad Farooqi: When Roberto Duran infamously exclaimed “no mas” in his second bout with Leonard, all the courage and pride the young street fighter from Panama embodied shattered. A fighter who once returned to his home country in a national parade and a chance to stay at the presidential house returned to jeers. In many ways, the jeers haven’t stopped. What many remember Duran for, is not the sensational career of 119 bouts, 103 wins and 70 KO’s spanning 5 decades and 5 weight classes. It isn’t the fighter ranked fifth amongst the all time greats of the last 80 years. It’s the fighter who quit, suddenly, shockingly, in the 8th round of a rematch with Sugar Ray Leonard. The sport, after all, is unforgiving. The moment Miguel Cotto shook his head slightly towards his corner in the 11th round of his bout against Anotonio Margarito, he embarked on what I call the “Roberto Duran road” (Evangalista Cotto, even said “no mas” when he tossed in the towel). A long, long road of redemption. He had every reason to. Bleeding from his ears, mouth and a broken nose, damaged jaw and facial bones and literally spitting blood, any man would quit. A husband and a father of three, Cotto did what he had to do. “I was thinking of my family, my kids,” he explained later. Rightfully so. At 28, no man should be leaving behind a wife and children. But what he lost that night, was not only his WBO title to the Tijuana Tornado. What Cotto lost was all the lustre, all the intimidation and intensity that he brought to the ring that night. He was, after all, considered the welterweight version of the Terminator plowing forward. The Cotto who returned against Michael Jennings, was no flesh and blood. The Cotto who fought Joshua Clottey was flesh and blood and scar tissue. But he kept coming forward. He kept fighting. What Antonio Margarito took from Cotto, wasn’t his confidence or his skills as Teddy Atlas said. It wasn’t his courage or ability as Freddy Roach said. What Antonio Margarito took from him was his pride. I don’t mean the chauvanistic, ever ready to burst, banter of masculine bravado. The pride I’m talking about is the one where one warrior decides to go on struggling. The Warrior’s pride. Punished to such a degree, Cotto knew that anymore of it could be life threatening. Miguel Cotto, a proud noble warrior, didn’t go out on his sheild that night. Logic and sense dictated that he forgo pride in order to save his life. Stripped of that pride, Cotto faced accusations that come naturally when pride is robbed of a warrior: cowardice. Boxing jargon, like any sophisticated spectacle, offers varied amounts of euphemisms. “Cotto has no heart,” cried fans and critics alike. A fighter with no heart is a fighter who crumbles under antagonism, who refuses to try when the going gets rough. A coward. That was the price of quitting. For Duran, the next two decades would have him return to the ring, again and again till the age of 50, to regain his pride. He returned to a third battle with the great Sugar Ray Leonard, and lasted a tough contest, all the way to the end. He fought Marvin Haggler in another battle, went the distance like no one before him. He battled fighters younger than him, fought them when he had no reason to and he did it for that pride he had lost. When he defeated a younger, game Davie Moore, Duran was hoisted in the air as the crowd wished him happy birthday. Duran had tears in his eyes that day. Maybe that was redemption. Or a slice of it. The man who fought Manny Pacquiao on the 14th of this month, was a man treading the “Roberto Duran road”. He wasn’t defending his title but winning back his pride. It was the same man who fought 9 rounds against an iron-chinned Joshua Clottey with a cut that needed 20 stitches. It was a man, stepping in ring to win back his pride. Not from the hands of his opponents (hard not to be respected when you punch the way Miguel does) but from the hearts of the boxing world. Did Miguel win back his pride? I think Miguel will be on this road for a long time. But the Miguel Cotto who quit against Margarito, his face a swollen mess of cuts and bruises, looked as if he had been robbed of something. His eyes were empty. The Miguel Cotto who steadily took off his gloves and smiled at his fans a few days ago was different. This Miguel Cotto carried his head high as he embraced the victorious Manny Pacquiao. You decide.