Cotto sparring with Golovkin to get ready for Trout

By Boxing News - 10/19/2012 - Comments

Image: Cotto sparring with Golovkin to get ready for TroutBy Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) is reportedly sparring with WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin among others at Big Bear Lake, in California to get ready for Cotto’s upcoming December 1st fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) on December 1st at the Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, USA. Cotto, who turns 32 on October 29th, will be sparring with the hard hitting Golovkin in three separate sparring sessions with hope of being able to beat the 27-year-old Trout.

Golovkin is a much different fighter from the southpaw Trout, however, and it’s difficult to see how this sparring will help Cotto get ready for Trout, who is much more of a finesse fighter in comparison to Golovkin. The only similarities that Golovkin and Trout have is in height and their unbeaten records. Golovkin is faster, better defensively and a much bigger puncher than Trout.

There’s a danger for Cotto in sparring Golovkin in that Golovkin is so powerful that he’s forced to spar with light heavyweights and cruiserweights just to have guys that are competitive with him. Golovkin even tears them apart, as he’s been doing with his middleweight competition since turning pro in 2006. You put the smaller 5’7″ Cotto in with Golovkin, even just for sparring purposes, and you have the recipe for Cotto getting smoked on a daily basis by him in one-sided sparring sessions.

Where this is dangerous is that it could undermine Cotto’s confidence as he approaches his fight with Trout and that in turn could lead to Cotto losing that fight. Unless Golovkin takes it easy on Cotto or is dismissed early in the camp by Cotto’s trainer Pedro Diaz, we could see Cotto take a real beating from Golovkin.

You can’t throw in a tiny, wide open junior middleweight like Cotto in with Golovkin without bad things happening for Cotto. In addition to the beatings, I’m worried whether Cotto might suffer some cuts or concussions from Golovkin because he’s got true one-punch knockout power and he eats up middleweights. Cotto isn’t even a middleweight.



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