By Jim Dower: Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) will be stepping back in the ring on February 21st against Michael Jennings (34-1, 16 KOs) in a 12-round bout for the vacant WBO title at Madison Square Garden, in New York.
Jennings, 31, is getting a big opportunity in being pitted against a fighter as good as Cotto, because there’s little in the British fighter’s career that suggests that he’s rightfully earned the position to fight Cotto.
Having faced mostly opponents from his own country, Jennings will be put to the biggest test of his career in facing Cotto. If there’s any hope to look forward to for Jennings it’s that he’s facing Cotto at the weakest point of Miguel’s career and because of that, Jennings may have a slim chance at beating him.
It’s doubtful, however, that Jennings can beat him by a decision because Cotto will be landing too cleanly and too often for that to happen. Jennings’ best chance is to try and test Cotto’s chin with something big early in the bout.
Cotto has been hurt in several of his fights and his ability to take a big shot might be weakened after the Margarito fight. It’s up to Jennings to try and fight out as quick as he can. If he waits too long, he runs the chance of getting taken out by one of Cotto’s huge shots and losing.
It’s been six months since former World Boxing Association welterweight champion Cotto lost his WBA title to Antonio Margarito in an 11th round TKO loss in July, a long time for most boxers.
However, Cotto, 28, took a lot of punishment in the 10th and 11th rounds, which culminated in him having to take a knee on two separate occasions to avoid absorbing further punishment from nonstop punching Margarito.
The problem was, Margarito landed a lot of flush shots in both of those rounds and took advantage of Cotto’s fatigued state at the time and was able to easily take him out. If there was any real source to Cotto’s explanation for losing the fight it would probably be because of the excessive moment that he was doing in the first 10 rounds of the bout.
Rather than moving selectively and choosing time to stand and trade with Margarito, or clinch, Cotto chose to stay on the move for 10 full rounds. By that time, he looked totally exhausted and was literally running for his life. Eventually, with little left in the tank, Cotto was forced to stand and fight it out with Margarito, who ended up hurt Cotto at the end of the 10th with some big uppercuts to the head.
In the next round, Cotto was taken out by Margarito after being dropped twice in the round. The outcome erased Cotto’s unbeaten record and seemed to diminish him slightly due to the way he was taken apart by Margarito in the brutal 10th and 11th rounds. However, apart from Margarito and possibly Paul Williams, it’s doubtful that any other fighter in the welterweight division could have done to Cotto what Margarito did.
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