THE BOXING TRUTH: Did Cotto put the...

THE BOXING TRUTH: Did Cotto put the demons of Margarito to Rest?



In this edition of The Boxing Truth, Beau Denison takes an in-depth look at the recent WBO Welterweight championship fight between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Denison offers in-depth analysis of not only the fight itself but also, the questions surround Miguel Cotto’s ability to overcome adversity.



Since suffering the only loss of his career in losing a portion of the Welterweight championship to former Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito nearly a year ago, the question that has been asked almost constantly of Miguel Cotto is what type of psychological effect did the brutal loss have on him. Cotto was able to regain a portion of the Welterweight title in his first fight since the loss by stopping top contender Michael Jennings earlier this year.





From a skeptical standpoint a case can be made that although Cotto looked impressive in the Jennings bout; that he had the right type of opposition in front of him. Although the bout was a world championship contest it more or less served the purpose of providing a confidence boost for the superstar Cotto.





Shortly after his victory over Michael Jennings, it was announced that Cotto would defend his newly won WBO Welterweight championship against the formidable test of IBF Welterweight champion Joshua Clottey in what appeared to be a unification contest. In the weeks leading up to the bout however the IBF stripped Clottey of his championship. Cotto’s WBO world title would be the only championship at stake.



Perhaps the more interesting development in the weeks prior to the bout was the personal problems Cotto was going through in splitting with his longtime trainer and Uncle Evangelista Cotto following a series of rumors that the relationship between the two had become strained. Would the split have an effect on Cotto during the fight with Clottey?



When the two boxers got into the ring on June 13th it was Cotto who was able to make the strongest initial statement in the opening round. Cotto was able to catch Clottey a fighter with a straight forward defensive/offensive style off guard and drop him to the canvas with a strong jab. Clottey a fighter known for having a granite chin went down as a result of the most elementary of punches. A jab…  This was certainly the right kind of statement for Cotto to make right out of the box. The knockdown would become the focal point of the contest.





Although it would be the first round knockdown of Clottey that would arguably be the determining factor of the bout, it was round three where the fight began to take on the dramatics of a movie script. In round three the two fighters accidently clashed heads resulting in a terrible gash over the left eye of Cotto.





Under the unified rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions in a championship contest if a cut is caused by an accidental head butt causes the bout to be stopped before the completion of four full rounds the bout is ruled a no contest. If the bout is stopped at any time after four rounds due to the cut caused by an accidental clash of heads the bout goes to the scorecards for a technical decision.





Cotto and his corner now faced the critical decision of deciding based on the severity of a truly severe cut of whether to stop the fight before the fourth round or to risk not only the championship but also, potential permanent damage by fighting on. Cotto proving once again to be a fighting champion in adverse circumstances fought on.





Cotto had increasing difficulty with his vision as the fight went on due to blood constantly flowing from the gash over his left eye. This was the most evident by the champion’s inability to see and defend from Clottey’s right hand in several stages of the bout.





In the fifth Cotto accidently shoved Clottey to the canvas. The former IBF champion remained on the canvas for a short time before being helped up by referee Arthur Mercante Jr. Mercante showing the top quality of referee that he is told Clottey to “walk it off” and gave the challenger adequate time to recover. The fight continued…





Although it appeared that Cotto shoving Clottey was accidental, it can not be ignored that this somewhat helped Cotto for the remainder of the contest. Clottey clearly was bothered by an apparent knee injury as a result of the fall. Clottey like Cotto was able to dig deep and showed the mentality of a warrior by fighting on when by this point in the bout Clottey could very well have won the fight via technical decision; despite suffering the knockdown in round one. Clottey was able to withstand an aggressive Cotto in round six as the champion was able to trap him on the ropes. This was the champion’s best round of the contest leaving no doubt as to who was dictating the action in round six.





Clottey however, was able to win the middle rounds of the bout clearly able to put pressure on Cotto and out work him in close. The thing about the middle rounds that made me curious was that commentators stated that this fight was slowly starting to resemble Cotto’s bout with Margarito. A bout that saw Cotto hit Margarito with everything but the kitchen sink but, ultimately succumbed to the constant pressure of the swarming Margarito. I respectfully disagree…





Lets consider the basis of that analysis. In a losing effort Cotto fought a great fight against Margarito. Cotto’s major mistake in this bout was he stood right in front of Margarito and neglected to go to the body as the rounds went on. It should not go unnoticed that Cotto hit Margarito with punches that would have dropped most fighters from 140-154 lbs. No one disputes Margarito’s ability to take a punch. What is disputable unfortunately about Margarito is the legitimacy of his victories in his major bouts if not all of his bouts due to his suspension for illegally wrapping his hands with Plaster of Paris.



Equally as unfortunate perhaps is the inability of everyone in the sport except for his trainers and Margarito himself to truly answer the questions of the legitimacy of his victories.





Joshua Clottey despite being a straight forward fighter with a defense/offense style does not have the punching power that Margarito once had, although disputable now.  It also troubles me that in the process of saying that this contest was beginning to resemble the Margarito fight was the question of how Cotto would respond to the pressure that Clottey was putting on him.





Some time has elapsed since the Cotto-Clottey bout. I have had time to read articles, listen to commentary, researched blogs and have discovered most of it if not all questions Cotto’s ability to deal with adversity under pressure. Does he have the heart of a champion?





Ladies and Gentlemen we are reviewing Miguel Cotto. Lets take a look back and put this ridiculous question to rest.





Let us not forget that with the exception of the Margarito bout that will forever be marred with questions that Cotto has been pressured various times in various bouts. He has been pressured by boxers of varying styles. He has been knocked down and put into situations where he had to survive slug fests in order to win. The bouts with DeMarcus Corley and Ricardo Torres are good examples of Cotto’s ability to deal with adversity.

Cotto has also had to deal with pure boxers with good hand speed and lateral movement.





Fighters who despite feeling Cotto’s punching power were able to withstand the storm and still manage to give him problems and make the contests competitive. Cotto’s bouts with Paul Malignaggi, Zab Judah and, Shane Mosley are evidence of Cotto’s ability to adapt in the middle of fights. It should also be noted that in the Judah and Mosley contests that Cotto had to deal with bleeding inside of his mouth and was likely swallowing blood while competing.





It therefore boggles this observer’s mind as to how fellow commentators could question Cotto’s resiliency. He has demonstrated that he is a warrior and will fight to the end. Cotto has answered that question loud and clear. I don’t understand why the question was ever asked.





Like a good movie script, Cotto responded like the warrior he is in rounds ten thru twelve when Clottey for whatever reason did not continue pressuring Cotto as he had in rounds seven thru nine. Cotto’s left hook was on full display here occasionally snapping Clottey’s head back.





It was Cotto’s effective aggressiveness and Clottey’s defense but lack of solid offense that made this a very difficult contest to score. It offered a difference of opinion rather than a consensus at the end of the twelve round bout.





The official judges scored the contest 115-112 (Cotto) 114-113 (Clottey) and an extremely questionable 116-111 for Cotto giving the champion the victory via split decision. The controversy of the scoring of this bout does not necessarily stand out in my mind as a scenario that many feel the wrong boxer was deemed to have been the victor.





In the week following the highly entertaining championship bout I have read multiple articles by various writers suggesting that Joshua Clottey was the victim of an injustice, the victim of a hometown decision so to speak. I respectfully disagree.





This contest was an extremely difficult fight to score. Although a case can be made that Clottey landed more punches and was more effective at certain stages of the bout; Cotto was very effective down the stretch. The knockdown that Cotto was able to score in round one as I said turned out to be the focal point of the contest.





Unofficially, I scored this bout 114-113 for Cotto. The basis of my scoring is that although Clottey was very effective at certain stages of the fight he was also at times overly defensive. There were times in the bout that Cotto was able to trap Clottey on the ropes and throw barrages of punches. Clottey did an effective job of blocking the majority of Cotto’s offense while on the ropes but did not attempt to counter punch.

It is hard from a scoring standpoint to give a rounds to a boxer who is very solid defensively but does not counter punch effectively in my opinion.



Cotto may not have landed a good majority of the punches that he threw in those flurries but, he was able to keep Clottey at bay for several seconds at a time during the flurries. Clottey’s inability to return effective offense made it difficult to score those rounds in his favor. The basic criteria for scoring a professional boxing contest are ring generalship, clean effective punching and, effective aggressiveness. It was clear that in those periods that Cotto was able to trap Clottey on the ropes that he was dictating the fight. It was these periods that cost Clottey the fight on my scorecard.





If Clottey were able to counter punch off the ropes or better yet stay off the ropes this fight would likely have had a different conclusion. It all boils down to that crucial first round knockdown. If Cotto were unable to drop Clottey in round one he would have likely lost his title. On my scorecard even with the knockdown in his favor, Cotto needed to win the final round in order to retain his title. If round twelve had been scored an even round, the fight would have ended in a draw.





One thing is certainly indisputable; Clottey has earned and deserves a rematch with Cotto. Clottey was certainly not disgraced in defeat and definitely made a good account of himself….





Regardless of what you may think of the official scoring it was a great contest and is a clear example of what makes the sport of boxing great. The one major issue that I have coming out of this bout however is that too much attention has been paid regarding the scoring. As I said this was a very difficult contest to score and the basis of the scoring controversy does have some merit.



After all when most observers have a fight scored by one or two points for either fighter you are bound to be a difference of opinion.





The one thing that needs to be questioned however is when two of three official judges produce relatively close scores and the third judge has a score by a relatively wide margin. Official judge Don Trella’s official score of 116-111 for Cotto does make one curious.



It could be a case of a judge having a bad night at the office so to speak or, a case of bad ring positioning. In this observer’s eyes after seeing the contest several times it is impossible to envision a score of 116-111 in favor of either boxer. It was too close a contest…





Unfortunately, the one thing that has not gotten a fair share of the attention is the performance of Miguel Cotto. Cotto proved once again that he can survive and thrive under adverse circumstances. The sensationalism of the circumstances of what has become a controversy surrounding his only defeat has somehow justified some to question Cotto’s resilience. The bottom line here is Cotto handled his defeat at the hands of Antonio Margarito whether they were plastered or not with the upmost class and dignity.





The idea that Cotto might be somehow haunted by what happened in the Margarito bout does not hold water. There have been many superstar fighters throughout the history of the sport of boxing that were undefeated but eventually lost.





Many boxers have lost their world titles and undefeated records in various ways. There have been many upsets at the hands of fighters that the undefeated superstar was expected to beat. Frankie Randall’s 1994 upset of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez is a perfect example. Chavez having gone into the bout with an incredible 89-0 record. Chavez may of lost his unbeaten record but his legend grew and lives on today.





There have been undefeated boxers of superstar quality who have lost their undefeated records in bouts that were considered epic wars. Sugar Ray Leonard’s first defeat at the hands of Roberto Duran in their epic first bout is an example.







Another perhaps more accurate example would be Thomas Hearns’ first defeat at the hands of Sugar Ray Leonard in their classic first bout. Both of these great duals of yesteryear I feel are in the same category as Cotto’s loss to Margarito. All of those fighters Chavez, Leonard, Duran, and, Hearns all were motivated by their first losses and went on to have Hall of Fame careers. Miguel Cotto is certainly on track to achieve the same legendary status having won three world titles in two weight classes at just 28 years of age.





“Did Cotto Put The Demons of Margarito to Rest?”





In one word “Absolutely!”





And That’s The Boxing Truth.