Friday, June 12, 2009

Cotto Fights for His Place in History


This is a VERY interesting article I read on HBO.com (http://www.hbo.com/boxing/events/2009/0613_cotto_clottey/columns/rating_cotto.html)

I'd like to know what you guys think on the subject matter.



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By virtually any standard, Miguel Cotto has had an inordinately successful career. On the way to compiling a record of 33-1 (with 27 knockouts) he's captured alphabet titles in both the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions, beaten a full complement of championship caliber fighters and participated in one of the great slugfests of 2008. If Cotto were from a land not so rich in significant boxing history as Puerto Rico—Wales, perhaps, or Ukraine, or the Philippines—he would be hailed as one of his country's greatest modern-day warriors, maybe among the very best the nation produced. Unfortunately for him, Puerto Rico has spawned more Hall of Fame fighters per square mile than any other land, so Cotto is held to a very high historical standard.


Where does Cotto, seasoned veteran at 28-years-old, rank among the best Puerto Rican fighters of the last quarter century? Where does he rate among Felix Trinidad, Wilfredo Gomez, Edwin Rosario, Wilfred Benitez, Hector Camacho and Wilfredo Vazquez? "Right now he's not on the same level as Gomez, Trinidad or Benitez," says boxing writer Jorge Perez, who has been covering the sport for El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico's largest daily newspaper, for almost 30 years. "He's right there with Rosario, Vazquez and (early 1990s junior lightweight champion) John-John Molina. Cotto is still too young and has too many years left to put him up there with the top guys. He's not a three-division champion like those other guys. He's still a two-division champion. Right now he's at the level of Edwin Rosario, who is in the Hall of Fame."

It's no embarrassment to be the equal of Rosario, one of the great knockout punchers of the 1980s who won titles at lightweight and junior welterweight. "Chapo" could knock a man cold with a single right hand or left hook and was a superb technical boxer when he wanted to be. While Cotto is not the one-punch KO artist Rosario was, his ability to box or slug depending on the opponent approximates Rosario's versatility. Longtime broadcaster Barry Tompkins sees the parallels. "I did a lot of Rosario's fights and really loved him. He was a great fighter and a real pro and everyone loved him. And then he fought Julio Cesar Chavez, and he just got destroyed. Now he may be remembered more for the fight he lost than for all of the fights he won," Tompkins said. "Benitez was a terrific craftsman too, but went downhill after the loss to Ray Leonard. I'd rank Cotto over Camacho and Vazquez—I always thought Camacho was more sizzle than steak—but under Trinidad, Benitez, Rosario and Gomez. But he's on the cusp.


It's a cliché but great fights make great fighters and Cotto is on the cusp of all that. One more big fight could put him up there." Indeed, the legendary trio of Trinidad, Gomez, and Benitez each scored many, many wins over solid competition but defined their careers with very big victories over elite opponents. Trinidad beat Oscar De La Hoya (more or less) and Fernando Vargas. Gomez bested Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor. Benitez out-slicked Antonio Cervantes and Carlos Palomino. To date, Cotto's two very big fights came against Shane Mosley, whom he outpointed, and Antonio Margarito, who stopped Cotto in the 11th round. Cotto fans take some solace in the suspicion that Margarito's handwraps were loaded the night he beat Cotto, as they were before Mosley stopped Margarito last January.


But the loss remains. Despite the loss to Margarito and the plethora of Puerto Rican fighters, Cotto still gets plenty of love in his homeland. "For Puerto Ricans Cotto is the most important fighter since Felix Trinidad," Perez says. "Trinidad is the most popular Puerto Rican fighter ever except for Gomez, so Cotto had a very difficult task of following Trinidad. But he's doing a very good job of it. He has a very different personality but he's been able to capture the people's hearts the way Trinidad did."
"For Puerto Ricans, Cotto is the most important fighter since Felix Trinidad." —boxing writer Jorge Perez


Popularity is one thing. Building a substantive legacy is another. Palomino, who lost the WBC welterweight title to Benitez in 1979, tells HBO.com that Cotto might have done himself a disservice by leaving the junior welterweight division when he did. "He's a very good fighter but he's not great yet at this point. I think if he had stayed at 140 longer he could have built a longer legacy for himself. But I like him, I like his aggression. He'll do fine at welterweight. He's probably in the same category as Rosario or Gomez," Palomino says. "He's not on the same level as Benitez or Trinidad. He can get there. He's very strong and a very strong body puncher and I really like that he can box, too, like he did against Antonio Margarito." Clearly the consensus is that Cotto is a full level below the icons that are Trinidad, Gomez and Benitez—but he could still get there. Perez believes Cotto could reach that rarified status in a couple of ways. One would be to win a world title at 154 pounds.


That would make him a three-division champion. Another would be to beat Manny Pacquiao. "Cotto has a lot of boxing left in him still. If he won a title at 154 he would be in that top group," Perez says. "And if he fights Manny Pacquiao and beats him, it'll be like when Trinidad beat Oscar De La Hoya, or when Gomez beat Zarate. It will be a great achievement and make him a superstar. Then there will be no doubt." No Puerto Rican enters the ring alone. He goes in with the ghosts of all the Puerto Rican greats that came before him. You can be sure that when Cotto goes against Joshua Clottey in New York on June 13, he'll be thinking at some point or another about Trinidad, Gomez and Benitez. And he will fight, in part, to have his name called some day among theirs.


By: William Detloff

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In my opinion, Cotto is still a young fighter and has the potential to become more than Trinidad was but he is still not there just yet!! Give him a couple more years and Cotto could very well be the biggest boxer in PR history....but that is yet to be seen....that's what I think ~~Jonmicol

10 comments:

Vlade said...

Totalmente de acuerdo contigo. Cotto representa al boricua que cuando se cae se levanta y sigue jodiendose, siempre me encojono que Tito se retiro despues que Hopkins le comio el culo y hasta lloro cuando se retiro, ¿qué carajo fue eso?

Mere mi hermano, a Cotto le tuvieron que hacer trampa para ganarle y con todo y eso el tipo nunca menciono el retiro, en cambio siguió entrenando, hizo los cambios que tenía que hacer y ahora va pa'lante.

Cotto es muy joven y lo comparan con gente que ya se retiraron y que pelearon hasta los 30 y pico de años, Cotto tiene más boxeo que Trinidad, es como un Gomez moderno, ese tipo nos va a poner bien contento cuando le gane a Clottey, va a hacer que todos los boricuas echen un polvo bien cabrón en el Round 13.

Diablo, Jon mala mía que escriba mucho, pero es que como todo boricua el boxeo me pompea bien cabrón.

Después de la pelea te voy a dejar un comment de lo que paso, ¡¡¡COTTO PUñETA!!!

Jonmicol said...

Ustedd escriba to lo que le de la gana!! Este blog es de todos nosotros exepto Virgen que es fea!

Pero me enconona tambien que digan que Cotto está al nivel de Trinidad. NO LO ESTA todavia! Delen como 5 a 8 añitos mas y veran que será una super estrella a nivel mundial.

Espero tu comment!

Macetaminofen said...

Por dios, John.

¡5 u 8 años para estar al nivel de Trinidad!

No seas exagerado.Yo le doy 2 o 3 peleas con gente como Pacquiao, una revancha con Margarito y alguna más.
Ademas, Cotto va a pelear hasta los 32 o 33 según él dice.
A mí Tito no me gustó nunca tanto , aunque siempre lo apoyé, porque no tenía boxeo y dependía sólo de us pegada.Cotto es otra cosa, es mas, yo lo quiero como el hermano que nunca tuve y to'

Jonmicol said...

Bueno, pues si lo dices tu Ma-Z no hay mas na!!

Tienes razon en lo de las peleas con pacquiao y de Floy Gayweather....si el gana esas peleas va a estar a un nivel mas allá de Tito.

En Cuanto a Tito....siempre me gustó como pugilista pero es que el tipo es bruto con cojones y mas feo que una gorda esperando para pagar su doble asiento en Jet Blue!

Macetaminofen said...

Fijate yo siempre he pesando que Tito es un bruto pero que hace caso.Si hubiese tenido otro trainer, hubiese durao' más en el boxeo.Debió cambiar de esquina despues de Hopkins porque el pai ya se estaba quedando ciego.

Todavía me acuerdo cuando peleo con Winky, que el pai' le dijo en el ROUND 11 que la pelea se veia apretaita y que estaban abajo por puntos.
La persona que haya visto esa pelea sabe que Tito estaba abajo desde el 2 round.

Los boxeadores deben cambiar su equipo cuando sea necesario si quieren progresar en el boxeo.

Vlade said...

Eso es verdad Ma-Z, después del segundo round el iba perdiendo la pelea.

Jon, ya mismo pasó a comentar sobre la pelea, chekeamos horita.

Vlade said...

Mano, yo vi la pelea 6 rounds a 6 rounds, y uno de los rounds que gano Cotto fue de 10-8, para mi esa fue la diferencia.

Clottey con el cabezaso le hizo una chocha en el ojo a Cotto y no aprovecho para joderlo, Cotto es el campeón y el africano no hizo lo suficiente para ganarle al campeón, cualquier otro boxeador con esa herida se hubiese caído como entre el 7 y el 9, Cotto esta críao con arroz y habichuelas, esa es la diferencia.

Cotto ganó.

Ley La Terrorista said...

cotto gano aunke no fue facil pelearle a chakazulu con una pandorka menstruante en el ojo

Coqueta said...

Jon
Interesante reportaje, Cotto llegara bien lejos, pero pienso que para eso tambien necesitaria un mejor equipo para entrenar.

Carinos
Coqueta

Nerdote said...

Me alegro de haber leído este artículo porque discute el tema que siempre surge cuando se menciona a COTTO: una inescapable comparación con otros boricuas de cuadrilátero. En especial Tito. Tampoco sabía q PR era el lugar q más duracos tiene por mila cuadrada. Yo, personalmente creo q TITO era más carismático q Cotto y eso le ganó una fanaticada más leal. También creo q era mejor boxeador pero yo no sé nada. Lo q está pasando ahora con tito es q se ha convertido en un loco q se mete en cuanta loquera hay.