Steward worried about Cotto losing to Foreman

By Boxing News - 06/03/2010 - Comments

Image: Steward worried about Cotto losing to ForemanBy Matt Stein: Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) has a lot to lose this Saturday night against WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) in their battle at Yankee Stadium, in New York. Cotto’s new trainer Emanuel Steward, who has been brought in to try and resurrect Cotto’s sinking career, knows full well how much the 29-year-old Cotto stands to lose if he’s beaten by Foreman on Saturday. Steward had this to say in an article at the Nydailynews, “All of his [Cotto] greatness is going to be totally washed away if he loses this one. Everything is on the line in this fight.”

Indeed, Cotto has already been beaten in half of his last four bouts with his only wins coming against Michael Jennings and Joshua Clottey. If Cotto gets beaten here, he loses out on a rematch with Manny Pacquiao and messes up any chance he might have of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the future. Those two fighters are obviously the ones that Cotto would like to fight in the near future, but for him to continue to get big money fights, he has to beat good fighters like Foreman.

Steward also could stand to lose out if Cotto loses. The chances are Steward won’t be back in Cotto’s corner after this fight if Cotto gets taken out or dominated by Foreman. Although Steward wouldn’t have been training Cotto for very long, I imagine that Steward will probably go just the same. Instead of seeing the loss as coming from a variety reasons, such as the past punishment he has taken, his tendency to cut easily and because of his poor stamina in the later rounds, I can see Cotto looking for another trainer that can somehow bring Cotto back to what he once was.

Steward has a lot of pressure on him for this fight, because he’s got to figure out how to save Cotto’s once promising career. Diehard Cotto fans might not see how serious his situation is because of their love for the fighter, but the truth is Cotto has been struggling since he beat Shane Mosley by a controversial 12 decision in 2007. Cotto faded late in that fight and barely was able to escape with a victory over Mosley. However, Cotto’s luck ran out the next year against Antonio Margarito in July 2008.

Cotto took a beating, and was a bloody mess at the time the bout was stopped in the 11th round. That fight seems to have changed Cotto somehow, as he’s not looked nearly as impressive since that fight compared to the way he was previous to that. Steward is stressed out about the Foreman fight because of what’s at stake if Cotto loses. This isn’t like Cotto has been impressing lately.

He was stopped in his last fight, losing by a 12th round knockout against Manny Pacquiao. The fight wasn’t even close, and that seems to suggest that Cotto isn’t at the same place he once was. Because of that, it really puts an added burden on Steward as he approaches this fight. This isn’t just a regular run of the mill fight that Steward is being called on the try and train Cotto. This is a fight where Cotto’s career is on the line, whether he wants to acknowledge it or not.



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