By Chris Williams: Although former World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) might much prefer to go right into a title fight against WBO champion Paul Williams, unfortunately Cotto will have to take a brief detour along the way with a WBO title eliminator match against #2 ranked Michael Jennings (34-1, 16 KOs) on February 14th in New York. Jennings, 31, from Britain, has fought the entirety of his career in the UK against mostly obscure, lowly ranked fighters.
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto boxing news
Cotto vs. Margarito II In June 2009 – Will Miguel Be Taking More Knees?
By Michael Lieberman: Former WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto must be a glutton for punishment, because why else would he even consider fighting his conqueror Antonio Margarito again after the last fight between the two of them. In that fight, Cotto was taking big punches, getting battered, bleeding all over the place, and taking knees as if he were bowing in front of royalty or something. Although he officially didn’t quit in the 11th round, you might as well call it that after he took a second knee to avoid the oncoming charge from Margarito, who looked like was ready to take what remained of Cotto’s bleeding head off his shoulders.
Cotto looked like a mess, blood everywhere, his face swollen from the numerous shots that Margarito had landed and looking every bit a loser in the fight. For that reason, it seems almost insane of him that he would want to risk having that happen to him a second time. I don’t care how many times he fights Margarito, Cotto will get beaten to a bloody pulp no matter what he does in the fight. He can try running, clinching or slugging, none of it will work against Margarito. He just needs to face the facts, Margarito is his master, and always will be.
Cotto-Margarito II: What are Miguel’s Chances In a Rematch?
By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, there are discussion of Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) facing WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs) in a possible rematch in 2009 if both of them win their next bouts. If this turns out to be the case, it will no doubt be a huge mega-fight for both of them with each likely making by far the biggest payday of their careers. Last time out, Cotto, 27, took a ferocious beating ending with him, his face a bloody mess, taking a knee twice in the 11th round causing the fight to be stopped. It was the type of beating that often stays with a fighter for the remainder of their career and one that few ever recover from.
You got to like Cotto – if he does choose to take the fight – for showing the courage to get back in the ring with Margarito after experiencing such a horrendous beating last time out. It will be interesting to observe how Cotto fights, in particular after being so badly broken by Margarito. I don’t really know how things can be any different for Cotto next time out, other than Margarito fighting with even more confidence knowing that he can eventually pressure him enough to break him a second time. Like in his rematch with Kermit Cintron, Margarito made it look even easier by stopping Cintron in the 6th round without getting so much as a scratch in the process.
The Rebuilding of Miguel Cotto
By Manuel Perez: For most people who witnessed former World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s (32-1, 26 KOs) 11th round stoppage defeat to Antonio Margarito on July 26th in Las Vegas, Nevada, they saw Cotto take a terrible beating ending with him twice taking a knee in the 11th round in order to prevent himself from being beaten even worse than he was. Though some boxing fans seem to suggest that it wasn’t that bad of a beating, that Cotto was just bathed in blood from two cuts around his eyes including a bloody nose, but I beg to differ; Cotto was broken by Margarito mentally as well as physically, the type of way that tends to stick with a fighter for the remainder of his days.
Many a fighter has never been the same after taking a savage beating like the one that Cotto took. But, then again, there are fighters that rebound quickly after a fight like this, showing almost no affects from the fight. One would hope that Cotto is of the latter type, because if he still is feeling the effects of his fight with Margarito, then it will be quickly brought to forefront as soon as he takes on another live body.
Baldomir Wants Bout Against Margarito, Cotto or Clottey — Boxing News
By Scott Gilfoid: Former World Boxing Council welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir (44-11-6, 13 KOs) reportedly wants a fight with top fighters Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey or Miguel Cotto according to Sycuan Ringside Promotions. The 37 year-old Baldomir hasn’t seen action since his 10-round majority decision win over light middleweight Luciano Perez in November 2007. Though Baldomir states that he’s interested in fighting one of the top welterweights in the division, it’s very questionable whether he can make the 147 pound weight limit at this stage in his career.
The last time he fought at 147 was two years ago against Floyd Mayweather in November 2006, a bout in which Baldomir was soundly defeated and lost his WBC welterweight title to Mayweather. Shortly after that, Baldomir moved up in weight to 154 lbs, the light middleweight division, where he was against defeated in a one-sided fight, a 12-round unanimous decision, to Vernon Forrest for the vacant WBC light middleweight title in July 2007.
Will Cotto Ever Be The Same Again?
By Sean McDaniel: After taking a brutal beating at the hands of punching dynamo Antonio Margarito on July 26th, there are a great many questions from boxing fans about the future of former WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs), about whether he’ll ever recover from the savage beating he took from Margarito on that night. To be sure, it was the type of beating that often stays with a fighter for the rest of their days, haunting them both mentally and physically, lessening their ability to take punches without going down – or in the case of Cotto, dropping to a knee multiple times to signal surrender at the hands of his conqueror.
I think even under the best of circumstances in with Cotto being matched carefully for a year or two, he still might not be the same fighter that he was previously. He took too many head shots in the fight, and the damage may have been a little too much for him to shake off the effects in such a short period of time. The brain heals more slowly than any other organ, both physically and mentally, and it will be a major work for Cotto to recover from the type of fight that Margarito put him through. In the rumor mill, Cotto has come out saying that he’d be interested in a fight with Kermit Cintron, a fighter with even more power than Cotto or Margarito.
Cotto-Margarito: Trinidad Would Have Never Taken a Knee
By Manuel Perez: Felix Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs) has always been one of my favorite fighters, a warrior that never gave an inch, even in losses to Winky Wright, Roy Jones Jr. and Bernard Hopkins. After seeing Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) twice take a knee against Antonio Margarito in their recent fight on July 26th, I could only imagine would Trinidad must have been thinking when he saw it. Believe me, Trinidad would have never taken a knee. He might have lost to a fighter as fierce and determined as Margarito, although I’m not so certain that would happen, but I can’t see him ever taking a knee once, let alone twice like Cotto did.
Trinidad in his prime would have rather gone down swinging rather than to yield the white flag of surrender and submit by taking a knee. I know of course that people will say that Cotto didn’t actually quit, that his trainer waived towel signaling for the fight to be stopped, but taking a knee two times is as close as you can get to surrendering in battle. Trinidad fought his heart out in every fight, winning some and losing some, but with him you always felt that he would go down swinging and that he wouldn’t just give up when things got rough in the ring. If it had been Trinidad in the ring with Margarito, he would have fought until the very last ounce of his energy was gone, and made Margarito take him out the old fashion way – with his fists. Perhaps this is the new generation of boxers or something, because I don’t understand it myself.
Miguel Cotto vs. Paul Williams: Would This Be Another Wipeout Loss For Miguel?
By Jason Kim: After watching former WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto get methodically taken apart by the Mexican Tornado Antonio Margarito recently, I wondered whether Cotto would stand a chance against an even bigger fighter like the 6’2″ WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams. If the question was asked before Cotto’s recent fight with Margarito, I’m fairly certain that most people would be in agreement that Cotto would come out the winner in the fight due his excellent counter punching ability and pinpoint punching.
However, Margarito showed Cotto for all his vulnerabilities, making it clear that he doesn’t like to be pressured for a long period of time and that he often fades badly in the in the 10th to the 12th rounds of his fights. Cotto has the much better power than Williams, and that’s something that won’t likely change even after Cotto’s loss. He punches well to the body and head, and isn’t easy to hit with single shots. Indeed, Cotto’s defense has improved immensely in the past couple of years to the point where he looks almost as good as Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his ability to duck and get out of the way of punches.
Cotto vs. Cintron?
By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-2, 27 KOs) recently signed a promotional contractor with Lou DiBella. Cintron, now 28, is coming off a 6th round TKO to Antonio Margarito in April, a fight in which Cintron lost his IBF welterweight title to Margarito. The loss, his second to Margarito in three years, left the power-punching Cintron in another rebuilding stage for his career. He may have some help getting back on top, though, as his new promoter Dibella is highly interested in trying to land a fight with Miguel Cotto who, as it turns out, was also was defeated recently by Antonio Margarito, in a 11th round TKO loss on July 26th.
Although a fight between Cotto and Cintron wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, as Cintron will probably be resting up and licking his wounds for the remainder of 2008, but in 2009, he’ll be looking for a good comeback opponent to take on and Cintron, with his good reputation and excellent power, would seem like the ideal opponent for Cotto to comeback against. To be sure, this is a very dangerous opponent for Cotto, since he’s had problems against big punchers in his career, getting hurt by DeMarcus Corley, Ricardo Torres, Zab Judah, and most recently against Margarito. Of those fighters, none of them have the same kind of power that the knockout artist Cintron has, for he’s capable of ending a fight with one punch.
Miguel Cotto = Fernando Vargas?
By Tom Hanson: I’m not sure if I’m the only one that noticed this or not, but I couldn’t help but see the close similarities of Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) and former welterweight star Fernando Vargas earlier in his career. I’m not referring to the fat and bloated Vargas at the end of his boxing career when he was struggling badly to make weight for fights. I’m talking about when Vargas was at the top of his game, the young undefeated then 20-0 phenom that fought Felix Trinidad in December 2000. At the time, Vargas was just as good a fighter as Cotto, maybe even better since he had already proven himself with wins over Winky Wright, Ike Quartey, Raul Marquez, Ross Thompson and a young Yory Boy Campas.
In contrast, before losing in a crushing 10th stoppage to Margarito on July 26th, Cotto has struggled to defeat Shane Mosley, running in the last three rounds to eke out a win, and also had problems in defeating Zab Judah, DeMarcus Corley and Ricardo Torres. Vargas, for his part, had no problems beating all of his opponents up until his fight with Trinidad in 2000, and showed superb speed, boxing ability and power to go with his good size at 5’10”. If you were to want to put together a welterweight champion, Vargas would be the mold that you would be looking for. He could move, slug and had excellent hand speed. Indeed, in every facet of his game he was a superior fighter than Cotto has shown to be.