By Jim Dower: Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) comes into Saturday night’s fight against WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) in bad shape having lost two of his last four fights and struggling in almost all his bouts now instead of dominating. Cotto doesn’t look the same after getting beaten down by Antonio Margarito in 2008. Physically, Cotto looks the same but when he’s under fire in the ring he’s been losing his poise and crumbling.

Foreman, 29, seems to be getting better and better with each successive fight, getting stronger and looking better each time out. Foreman recently defeated Daniel Santos in November 2009 to capture the WBA title in a fine performance that showed how much Foreman is still improving as a fighter. Foreman, who has a reputation of having no power, showed excellent power, aggression and good hand speed to dominate Santos through 12 rounds.

It was perhaps Foreman’s best fight of his entire eight-year pro career and showed that he’s still getting better and better as he approaches 30. Cotto, however, appears to have peaked as a fighter three years ago in 2007 when he defeated Zab Judah by an 11th round TKO. Cotto was hurt twice in that fight, though, and ever since then, he’s taken severe punishment in fights against Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Manny Pacquiao.

Cotto did beat Mosley by a 12 round split decision but the punishment that Cotto took in that fight was the worst up to that point in his career that he had taken. If only this was a one-time thing. Things have gotten much worse for Cotto after that fight with his losses to Margarito and Pacquiao, and his close win against Joshua Clottey, a good but very limited fighter.

The way that Cotto has taken punishment while not looking less than confident and in control seems to suggest that he’s not at the level he once was before these series of tough bouts started. Cotto could have made things easier for himself had he taken some soft fights in between to allow himself to recover but he’s taken on these tough fights with only one soft opponent in between, Michael Jennings.

Tonight, Cotto will be fighting in front of what will likely be a huge crowd of 30,000 to 40,000 fans at Yankee Stadium and I expect the excitement of the moment will cause him to fall back into his brawling style of fighting where he completely abandons any thought about defense and starts taking vicious shots from Foreman. Cotto’s new trainer Emanuel Steward has been brought in to try and resurrect his career and make changes with the rough edges of Cotto’s game.

However, like when Floyd Mayweather Sr. tried to change the brawling tactics of Ricky Hatton, I don’t see this as being a successful endeavor by Steward. It’s not that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s that Steward can’t be effective unless his fighters listen to what he’s saying and apply his directions to the letter. Steward has been lucky that he’s had some disciplined fighters like Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. However, I don’t see Cotto as being obedient in following Steward’s game plan as he’ll need to be to beat Foreman tonight.