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Fighters put themselves through excruciating pain to make weight, especially those who continue to fight at a weight at which they should no longer compete.
Such was the case with Miguel Cotto, who Nov. 10 will be fighting for the fourth time at welterweight when he defends his title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley at Madison Square Garden in New York City. HBO pay-per-view will televise.
There were a couple of things we already knew about fighters who insist on staying too long at a given weight. One, a fighter is bound to be weak when he gets to fight night because he has been starving himself to make weight. Two, when a fighter is depriving himself of the food and water that we all need, he saps the water from his brain and it does not replenish entirely in the 24 hours after a weigh-in leading to the fight.
This, of course, renders a fighter in greater danger of a serious brain injury. Almost every time a fighter sustains such damage, we find out that he had a difficult time making weight.
But John Park, the personal velocity trainer for Cotto, on Monday told us about something else he believes was happening with Cotto before he moved up to welterweight from junior welterweight, where he toiled for the first 27 fights of his career.
"Typically, what's happened over the years with boxers is, they drop so much weight in order to make weight that by the time they get into the ring, they are completely depleted," Park told this newspaper prior to a news conference at House of Blues in West Hollywood promoting Cotto-Mosley. "And in losing that weight, they are not necessarily losing excess body fat, but they're losing muscle.
"And once the muscle goes, you start cannibalizing your own muscle for energy. And the place where it goes, which is the most important part on a boxer, is the legs. Those are the wheels, so once a muscle goes from the legs, then they have nothing. So it's better for them to fight at a more natural weight where they don't have to kill themselves to make the weight and they have sufficient energy and strength to get through in the event that it should go 12 rounds."
Cannibalizing one's own muscles? That does not sound good. And Park wasn't going to have any part of it.
"Miguel was killing himself making the weight and the experts (meaning Park) that we brought in said that they wouldn't be involved if he continued to fight at junior welterweight because he was burning up muscle," said Cotto's promoter, Bob Arum, chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc.
Cotto, 26, had been having serious problems making the 140-pound junior welterweight limit for some time. That was the reason why Park and his personal velocity team were asked by Arum to join the Cotto camp. But had Cotto not agreed to move to the 147-pound welterweight division, Park said he indeed would not have climbed on board. This will be Park's fourth fight with Cotto, all at welterweight.
"(Junior welterweight) is too low for his natural body weight," Park said of Cotto, who boxed at junior welterweight in the 2000 Olympics at age 19.
Interestingly, Park said that Cotto is such an outstanding physical specimen that he could easily move up one more class to 154 pounds and be successful there. He said Cotto has tremendous density in his legs and is very muscular in his calves, thighs and buttocks, where so much of a fighter's power comes from.
Not surprisingly, Cotto said he is a much happier fighter these days now that he doesn't have to torment himself the way he was for the first five-plus years of his professional career.
Cotto, of Puerto Rico, is 30-0 with 25 knockouts, including a 10-0 mark with nine knockouts in world title fights.
After relinquishing his junior welterweight belt, Cotto moved up and stopped Carlos Quintana in the fifth round to win the vacant welterweight championship. Cotto has made two defenses.
"Now, I feel complete," Cotto said. "It was too much effort to make 140 pounds. I trained in my mind just to make the weight. Now at 147, I train with my mind on the fight."
Such was the case with Miguel Cotto, who Nov. 10 will be fighting for the fourth time at welterweight when he defends his title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley at Madison Square Garden in New York City. HBO pay-per-view will televise.
There were a couple of things we already knew about fighters who insist on staying too long at a given weight. One, a fighter is bound to be weak when he gets to fight night because he has been starving himself to make weight. Two, when a fighter is depriving himself of the food and water that we all need, he saps the water from his brain and it does not replenish entirely in the 24 hours after a weigh-in leading to the fight.
This, of course, renders a fighter in greater danger of a serious brain injury. Almost every time a fighter sustains such damage, we find out that he had a difficult time making weight.
But John Park, the personal velocity trainer for Cotto, on Monday told us about something else he believes was happening with Cotto before he moved up to welterweight from junior welterweight, where he toiled for the first 27 fights of his career.
"Typically, what's happened over the years with boxers is, they drop so much weight in order to make weight that by the time they get into the ring, they are completely depleted," Park told this newspaper prior to a news conference at House of Blues in West Hollywood promoting Cotto-Mosley. "And in losing that weight, they are not necessarily losing excess body fat, but they're losing muscle.
"And once the muscle goes, you start cannibalizing your own muscle for energy. And the place where it goes, which is the most important part on a boxer, is the legs. Those are the wheels, so once a muscle goes from the legs, then they have nothing. So it's better for them to fight at a more natural weight where they don't have to kill themselves to make the weight and they have sufficient energy and strength to get through in the event that it should go 12 rounds."
Cannibalizing one's own muscles? That does not sound good. And Park wasn't going to have any part of it.
"Miguel was killing himself making the weight and the experts (meaning Park) that we brought in said that they wouldn't be involved if he continued to fight at junior welterweight because he was burning up muscle," said Cotto's promoter, Bob Arum, chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc.
Cotto, 26, had been having serious problems making the 140-pound junior welterweight limit for some time. That was the reason why Park and his personal velocity team were asked by Arum to join the Cotto camp. But had Cotto not agreed to move to the 147-pound welterweight division, Park said he indeed would not have climbed on board. This will be Park's fourth fight with Cotto, all at welterweight.
"(Junior welterweight) is too low for his natural body weight," Park said of Cotto, who boxed at junior welterweight in the 2000 Olympics at age 19.
Interestingly, Park said that Cotto is such an outstanding physical specimen that he could easily move up one more class to 154 pounds and be successful there. He said Cotto has tremendous density in his legs and is very muscular in his calves, thighs and buttocks, where so much of a fighter's power comes from.
Not surprisingly, Cotto said he is a much happier fighter these days now that he doesn't have to torment himself the way he was for the first five-plus years of his professional career.
Cotto, of Puerto Rico, is 30-0 with 25 knockouts, including a 10-0 mark with nine knockouts in world title fights.
After relinquishing his junior welterweight belt, Cotto moved up and stopped Carlos Quintana in the fifth round to win the vacant welterweight championship. Cotto has made two defenses.
"Now, I feel complete," Cotto said. "It was too much effort to make 140 pounds. I trained in my mind just to make the weight. Now at 147, I train with my mind on the fight."
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