Miguel Cotto: Point/Counterpoint

Intro By William Trillo
Photos By Chris Farina - Top Rank
 
 
Without question Miguel Angel Cotto has become a dominant force in the Welterweight division and few would question that when it comes to 147 pound elite, Cotto's name has to be in the mix. If there is a question in regard to Cotto it's where he will end up on the list of legendary fighters and Champions from Puerto Rico.
 
The island has produced many warriors and Cotto will surely be mentioned amongst the best of the Boricuan's. But will he ever reach or surpass the all time favorite Puerto Rican, Felix "Tito" Trinidad, and what would it take to unseat the King of Puerto Rican boxing?
 
With that question in mind we would like to turn your attention to 2 of our top writers, Luis Cadiz from Puerto Rico and Francisco Guzman of New York, both of  whom happen to be of Puerto Rican heritage and can speak directly to the heart of the matter.
 
 		 

Tito Sr. & "Indio" Quintana Say Cotto May Never Surpass Trinidad

Written By Luis Cadiz

At a press conference in September to promote his November fight with Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto boasted to the press he'd become more popular than fellow Puerto Rican superstar Felix Trinidad:

"In Puerto Rico, New York and Las Vegas I have been watching how my fans have been growing. I have to get more fans and defeating anyone will put me on that level. And defeating Shane Mosley will do that. I'm not the same as Tito Trindad...I'm going to be even more popular"

I asked quite a few people on the Island about this comment, I made sure that they were people who watch boxing, not just anyone. People who watch and pay the "Pay-per-View" events, who have some background on the sport and who bet on the fights. In other words, people who follow the sport of boxing. Any ordinary "Joe" off the streets is corrupted by the promotional element of the sport, he or she will say that Cotto is the best because he's the champ of the moment and won't see beyond what is presented on T.V., in the papers and other forms of media.

With that said, well, over 90% agreed that Miguel Cotto will not be greater than Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Less than 5% believed that Cotto will be the next island sensation to the degree that "Tito" was and still is. The charge that prevailed against Miguel Cotto from all the people that participated in my poll was his lack of charisma with the public. The people acknowledged his boxing ability, his aggressive pressuring style, his assimilation of punishment, but recognized that his boxistic attributes have been tested against selected, and in some cases limited, competition.

I was able to contact Carlos "El Indio" Quintana, recently crowned W.B.O. welterweight champ and the other welterweight king of the island. I picked Quintana for this report because he's the other welterweight champ of Puerto Rico who actually resides on the island, Kermit "The Killer" Cintron is the third Puerto Rican welterweight champ but does not live here. Another reason is because Quintana already faced Cotto in the ring, losing his first title shot in T.K.O fashion within 5 rounds, and the third
reason is because "El Indio" formed part of Don Felix's stable of fighters early on in his career. So Quintana is familiarized with the Trinidad family.

Here's what Carlos "El Indio" Quintana had to say:

"Cotto is doing well with his career, he's on the right track. As far as his boxing is concerned, he's winning over the boxing public with his style. But to topple "Tito's" achievements in the sport... that's going to be difficult. And for him to win over the fans as "Tito" has done, get that feeling of acceptance
from the fans as "Tito" has done... never. Not like that. Not like "Tito". "

The other person who spoke his mind on the subject was Don Felix, "Tito's" father, manager and trainer. When approached with the statement, here's what he had to say:

"That's not bad... he has all the right to say that, if that's what he feels. But from what you say to what you do, there's a long distance between the two. (This is a typical saying in Puerto Rico, "Del dicho al hecho hay un largo trecho" I translated it literally to not lose the essence of his comment). Before we say something about "Tito's" career, we have to look at the champions that came before him. What about the achievements of Wilfedo Gomez, Wilfred Benitez, Edwin "Chapo" Rosario, Hector "Macho" Camacho, John John Molina? They all came before "Tito" and honored Puerto Rico with their wins as world champions. It would be a lack of respect to forget what they have done for the sport of boxing here on the island.

"Tito" as a welterweight champion defended his title 15 times and look at the names he has defeated in that weight class. He beat a champion in Maurice Blocker to gain the I.B.F. title, then he unified with another champion, and Olympic gold medalist, in an undefeated Oscar De la Hoya with his W.B.C. belt. "Tito" then goes to 154 and beats another undefeated former Olympic gold medalist in the form of David Reid. He unifies his W.B.A. title with undefeated I.B.F. champ Fernando Vargas. Not stopping there, "Tito" then steps up to the middleweight division and defeats W.B.A. title holder William Joppy. In his search for unifying all the middleweight titles is when he's handed his first defeat at the hands of Bernard Hopkins. But Hopkins proves to be the middleweight champion with his win over "Tito".

When you look at "Tito's" resume, there's prestige involved due to his trajectory within the sport. Cotto still hasn't beaten a champion to earn his titles. Cotto has talent, but he has yet to beat a champion to get his belts.

It would seem to me that there's some doubt within his promotional company that they haven't placed him in the ring with a champion at this stage of his career. This is not an attack, he's a good young man and he comes from a good family, I am just stating the obvious.

As well as it is obvious that "Tito" loves Puerto Rico. When he mentions this land it comes from the heart... he carries the island of Puerto Rico on his shoulders every time he steps into the ring. People see that in him, and that's why "Tito" is well received when he comes back from one of his fights.

The fans see that "Tito" is patriotic, humble, clean... he has no vices, he's accessible... that's what sets "Tito" apart. He will always be the same “Tito.”

Cotto’s A Throw Back
Written By Francisco Guzman

 


Miguel Cotto (31-0-25 KOs) from Caguas, Puerto Rico will be defending his WBA welterweight title for the 4th time against Alfonso Gomez (18-3-2-8 KOs) this Saturday April 12 at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Miguel Cotto who has come a long way from being a fighter in obscurity fighting in the shadow of Felix Trinidad to gaining popularity by beating “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

 

Miguel was declared a national hero by Puerto Rico’s government and a big parade was held upon his arrival in his honor. He was cheered by thousands of fans and popularity has grown since that win. Cotto is coming into his own as the next Puerto Rican superstar. It took a while for Puerto Ricans to except Miguel as the next heir the throne and because of Miguel’s quiet very low key personality that may be the reason why he didn’t have an immediate following the way Tito did.

 

Ever since Cotto’s arrival in February of 2001 as a Jr welterweight he’s been watched very closely by the boxing world and the Latin community. Top Rank has carefully taken him up the ranks disposing opponent after opponent with names like Justin Juuko (TKO 5), Carlos Maussa (TKO 8), Randall Bailey (TKO 6) Victoriano Sosa (TKO 4), Lovemore Ndou (W12) he even avenged two amateur losses to Kelson Pinto (TKO 6) and Muhammad Abdulaev (TKO 9) so you couldn’t take away at the fact the kid was something special.

 

 

It wasn’t until his fight against Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley where he was hurt with a shot to the temple and was dropped in the 4th round by Ricardo Torres that his chin was questioned as being suspect. In both fights Cotto went on to stop both opponents by KO. Cotto’s trouble to make weight was probably the cause of his ability to be hurt. After his fight against Paulie Malignaggi (W 12) Cotto moved 7 pounds north to the welterweight division. Even in his first fight against Carlos Quintanna one out of seven of the top trainers in Puerto Rico picked Quintanna to beat Cotto showing that he still wasn’t accepted as the next heir apparent.

 

 I guess he silenced them by annihilating Quintanna in 5 rounds knocking him down twice and causing him to quit on his stool. When facing Zab Judah; Miguel was hit with some vicious upper cuts which opened up a cut in Miguel’s lower lip. Cotto was rocked several times but never badly hurt showing his ability to take a punch much better than he did at Jr welter. Miguel broke Judah down round by round causing him to take an eight count in round 9th  and knocking him down in the 11th causing the referee to stop the bout with 49 seconds left in the round.

 

In his bout against Mosley many thought that Cotto would probably have problems with Shane’s boxing ability and speed. From the beginning there was a lot of back and forth action for most of the fight but it was Miguel who turned the table by sticking his jab in Mosley’s face, picking off some of his punches and landing the sharper combinations. He also surprise Shane by moving backwards and being affective while doing it. It was a close fight with both fighters giving one of their best performances, but it was Miguel with the edge at the very end.   

 

Since Cotto’s win against Mosley, the word great has been mentioned many times. The media has even questioned Floyd as to why isn’t he fighting Miguel Cotto. Also Carlos Quintana’s win over Paul Williams who was considered to be the most avoided fighter out there, had elevated Cotto as the man at the welterweight division. Cotto has answered a lot of questions coming into his fight with Mosley ands he also showed versatility by moving backwards and boxing something he never did in the past. Over and over again Miguel was considered slow, flat footed, one dimensional and having a suspect chin and yet again he would still come out victorious.

 

 Plus Miguel’s a throwback fighter who comes from a family of fighters. His older brother Jose Cotto fights as a lightweight. Miguel is a very methodical fighter who’s a thinker in the ring and slowly breaks his opponents will with constant pressure. He is one of the most focused fighters that I have seen in a long time. I believe that Cotto’s great conditioning, timing and his relentless body attack is the reason why he’s remained victorious today. Another of one of Cotto’s tools is his under rated jab. Something that Mosley mentioned threw him off in his fight against Cotto.  Because of all these qualities Miguel is going to be very difficult to beat. In speaking to fight fans this is some of the response received about the Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto.

 

Mr. Williams: “I think he’s a solid great fighter. He’s got power and he can box. Miguel is well rounded and versatile. He had quick hands and hits hard. He can knock you out and he comes to fight. He doesn’t back up and he resilient”.

 

Tito: Miguel is a great fighter, a very discipline fighter. Basically lives a life of a militant, like a machine. People make fun of him and say that he is a robot but that was the way he was raised in a true Puerto Rican household where it isn’t about games. Whatever issues that they have, everything is pushed aside when he trains in the gym. I think that his power is incredible.

 

Steve: Miguel Cotto is definitely someone that is in the elite class. I would say top 2 with Mayweather being number 1. I think he has the goods. He puts a lot of pressure on fighters, something that Mayweather would not be comfortable with. Cotto is at the peak of his career right now. Miguel Cotto is on the verge of becoming an all time great.

 

 

Angel: I was such a die hard Trinidad fan. Once he left there was a void that left me hungry for another Puerto Rican champion. It’s not like Cotto came in right away. There was a time lapse. I was looking for that in Cotto but like every great fighter they bring him up slow. I feel that Cotto is a good fighter. I wouldn’t say great yet.

 

Michael: I think that Cotto is one of the greats right now with the potential to be one of the all time greats. He is kind of like Duran before he fought Leonard.
 

He is beaten everybody that you put in front of him. He has shown great skills, great power. He’s a throwback because he will fight anybody. To be one of the best welterweights like a Trinidad. He needs that big fight like a Mayweather.