Cotto: My brother put Canelo in a bad position at 135lbs

By Boxing News - 08/26/2015 - Comments

Image: Cotto: My brother put Canelo in a bad position at 135lbsBy Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) reminded the boxing media about an event that took place give years ago when his little brother Jose Miguel Cotto had Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) badly hurt and basically out on his feet give years ago in the 1st round in their fight in 2010. Jose hurt Canelo with a hard right hand that had him stunned. He then unloaded everything but the kitchen sink on Canelo while trying to finish him off, but unfortunately for Jose, he smothered his own work by standing too close to Canelo and he was unable to finish him off.

At the time of the fight, Jose was a 135lb lightweight, while Canelo was a hulking welterweight. Canelo was more like junior middleweight at the time of the fight. He was 20-years-old at the time.

“My brother was a 135-pounder who put Canelo in bad condition in the first round,” Cotto said to the media. “It’s different, you know. I think that’s going to be the key. It’s another chapter, another fight.”

It is much different now with the 160lb Cotto facing Canelo rather than the 135lb Jose Miguel Cotto in their fight on November 21st on HBO pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cotto figures things will be different with him standing across from Canelo in this fight. Cotto will be looking to avenge the loss of his brother when he gets inside the ring with Canelo.

It’s just too bad that Cotto waited five years to take the fight, because it would have been more interesting had he looked to avenge his loss in 2010 or 2011 instead of waiting until 2015 to face Canelo to avenge the defeat. With all the time that has gone by since then, a lot of boxing fans have completely forgotten about Cotto’s brother’s loss. I guess that’s why Cotto has taken it upon himself to remind the member members and the boxing fans who haven’t studied Canelo’s past fights beyond just his recent fights.

Canelo is definitely vulnerable to getting hurt inside the ring. In his last fight against a very, very slow James Kirkland, Canelo was hurt in the early going when hit by some hard shots from Kirkland.

If Kirkland had any hand speed and boxing ability, he likely would have finished Canelo off, but he was just too slow and limited to take Canelo out. Cotto has much better hand speed and talent compared to Kirkland, and if he hurts Canelo the same way he did, it could be over with for Canelo.

The Cotto-Canelo fight will be determined on which of these two guys has the better boxing talent. It’s not going to be a fight that will be determined on power alone. If Cotto is the better fighter in terms of technical skills than Canelo, then we’re likely going to see Cotto wind up with his hand raised at the end of the fight unless we see a controversial decision like what we saw in Canelo’s fight against Erislandy Lara.



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