Miguel Cotto – The greatest all rounder of this generation

By Gavin Duthie - 06/10/2015 - Comments

1-cotto (2)By Gav Duthie: Just as the career was fading of the enigmatic, exciting, edge of your seat Puerto Rican boxing legend Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad entered compatriot Miguel Cotto. Trinidad was many a fight fans favorite flawed fighter in the 90’s and early 2000’s with inexplicable punching power given his modest physique and the ability to get up time after time to best an opponent.

Trinidad was arguably the greatest all rounder of his generation and it is a credit to the country of Puerto Rico that the torch was then passed to Miguel Cotto. 

Of course there are better stylists than Cotto, stronger fighters, bigger punchers with better chins but in my opinion Cotto fits into about the top 10 in any and every list one could compile of the last 15 years. He is one of the greatest fighters with some of the best fights and boxing rivalries since his fighting debut. He has two huge fights left in his career against Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin and whatever happens he will be the boxer that I will miss most when he retires. 

Boxing Bio

It wasn’t many fights into his career before Cotto’s name was becoming known to boxing fans. In only his tenth professional contest he stopped former title challenger to Floyd Mayweather Jnr Justin Juuko in 5 rounds in 2002 just 16 months after turning professional. 

Within the space of a year between the December 2003 and September 2004 he went on an unrivaled impressive four fight winning spree which culminated on him winning the WBO light welterweight title against fellow unbeaten banger The Brazilian Kelson Pinto in his 21st fight. He had previously stopped another unbeaten Brazilian Carlos Maussa in 8, followed by 4 easy rounds against Victoriano Sosa. Sosa had gone the distance with Mayweather and at this point Cotto looked possibly the better prospect. Lovemore N’Dou took Miguel the full 12 but his chin is granite born all this before the title win against Pinto. After 6 successful defences he moved up to welterweight and beat Carlos Quintana for the vacant WBA title in round 5.

Cotto was now 28-0 having beaten 5 undefeated fighters Carlos Maussa, Carlos Quintana, Paulie Maliggnaggi, Kelson Pinto and Ricardo Torres. In 2007 he bested Hall of Famers Zab Judah and Shane Mosley before succuming to Antonio Margarito in his first loss by 11th round tko. After two comeback wins including a hard fight with Joshua Clottey he was stopped again by Pacquiao. A weight drained Cotto moved to 154 lbs where he received an immediate title shot beating Yuri Foreman. In his second defence he got his revenge on Margarito who by this time had been suspected of using loaded gloves for his victory over Miguel. Cotto won after the Mexican didn’t come out after round 9. In 2012 he gave a valiant but losing display against Floyd Mayweather but after losing to Austin Trout most thought he was finished. A battle scarred 33 year old fighter. So much so that when he went up to middleweight to face Sergio Martinez a man 5 years his senior the talk was that Cotto was done not Sergio. Cotto proved it the other way round dominating until the tenth round stoppage. At the weekend he destroyed genuine middleweight Daniel Geale to set him up for huge fights with Canelo and Gennady Golovkin. 

Top boxers

In my opinion he sits at #6 currently of top boxers of the last 15 years behind Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Wladimir Klitschko and rivals Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Others have the potential to achieve more but at present Cotto is well ahead of the likes of Golovkin, Canelo, Roman Gonzalez, Terrence Crawford, Mikey Garcia because Cotto’s 44 fights have all been at the top level. 

Match making

In the last year Cotto has received nothing but criticism for who he isn’t fighting. Cotto has made a career out of fighting the best time after time. When he was a prospect he fought the best prospects, as a champion he has faced other champions. I am 100% confident he has Canelo in his sights for his next bout. The only top fight I would love to have seen that didn’t happen was Cotto-Hatton. That would have been fireworks. 

Power punchers

Again for me in the last 15 years Cotto has to be a top ten fighter for power punching. He has dispatched many a solid, durable fighter with his sickening left hooks equally to the body and head. Both Klitschko brothers would rank higher as well as fellow Eastern European Sergiy Kovalev. The likes of Gennady Golovkin and Deontay Wilder are huge punchers but not yet at the very highest level. Adonis Stevenson’s straight left is huge but every Cotto fight I watch I feel he has the potential to win by knockout. 

Greatest fights

Even if you started following boxing at the start of the Millennium you would still have been treated to some of the greatest fights of all time. Erik ‘El Terrible’ Morales back and forth victory over Marco Antonio Barrera and Mickey Ward v Arturo Gatti. Again I wouldn’t claim Cotto to have battles of this standard but there are a few fights I consistently re-watch. His battle with Ricardo Torres (28-0) was fantastic as was his win over Mosley and his loss to Manny Pacquiao. He even forced Floyd Mayweather into a good fight in their 2012 contest. 

Best Rivalries

The Marquez brothers rivalries with Manny Pacquiao and Israel Vasquez respectively, Barrera-Morales, Ward-Gatti match up to the best in boxing history but revenge has never tasted so sweet as when Miguel Angel Cotto dismantled Antonio Margarito over 9 rounds. In their first fight Margarito took everything Cotto had and bludgeoned him. Later after Shane Mosley destroyed him we found out why. Antonio Margarito had been boxing with loaded gloves. Cotto punished him in the rematch so much so that Margarito retired meaning a rubber match wasn’t required.

Accomplishments

Cotto has won multiple world titles over 4-weight classes. He has beaten 6 undefeated fighters and he will not be scared to attempt the same with Golovkin.

The final word

I am a huge Cotto fan. This is obvious but I am only a fan because he delivers everything I want from a boxer. Great skill, power, the will to win, great fights, dignity, a never defeated attitude and above all great entertainment. He will be greatly missed when he retires but just now there is still all to play for. 



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