On the morning of December 2, 2012, prize fighter Miguel Cotto woke up for the first time in his professional career knowing that he had suffered consecutive losses. The night before Cotto lost a unanimous decision to Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden in New York City which was preceded by a unanimous decision loss that May to Floyd Mayweather Jr. For his illustrious career to that point Cotto had won titles in three divisions, but at 32-years of age you wondered if his skills in the ring were diminishing.
In this world the smartest people are the ones who realize that they cannot do it by themselves and they seek out the advice from people who have more knowledge than they do in a field. In Cotto’s case he found a new trainer in Freddie Roach.
Roach has trained boxing champions at different weight classes such as Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacqiuao, and Amir Khan. But the jury was still out on what kind of affect that Roach would have on an older Cotto.
In Cotto’s first fight under Roach’s tutelage, he took on Delvin Rodriguez last October. From the opening bell Cotto dominated Rodriguez by cutting off the ring. And by the third round Rodriguez couldn’t hang with Cotto as he suffered a technical knockout.
For some time Cotto has wrestled with the thought of moving up to the middleweight division and it finally became a reality.
Cotto agreed to face the WBC and Ring Magazine Middleweight Champion Sergio Martinez. Cotto and Martinez met last night at Cotto’s home away from home in Madison Square Garden with Martinez’s titles on the line. Heading into the bout Cotto was 7-1 at MSG and the predominantly Puerto Rican crowd made themselves heard as they were out to support one of their favorite sons.
From the opening bell Cotto dominated the Argentinian in Martinez. In the first round Cotto sent Martinez to the canvas three times and it appeared that he was on his way to ending the fight extremely early. Martinez entered the fight with two bad knees and Cotto was able to throw salt on the wound by using aggression while also cutting off the ring for the entire contest.
Between the ninth and tenth rounds, Martinez’s trainer Pablo Sarmiento was pleading with his pugilist to stop the fight. Martinez wanted one more round while Sarmiento wasn’t going to let it happen. Sarmiento let Martinez know that his knees were not responding. Sarmiento told Martinez that “you will always be my champion” and he proceeded to throw the towel.
Cotto had already won titles at junior welterweight, welterweight, and junior middleweight. After last night’s victory Cotto is now a four-division champion and he became the first Puerto Rican born fighter to win titles at four different weight classes.
Roach has taken a great fighter in Cotto and he has made him even greater. Cotto has always been an aggressive fighter and Roach has been able to bottle some of that aggression while allowing his fighter to use it in a more positive manner. In Cotto’s four losses as a professional he was able to hang with his opponents, but in the later rounds he simply ran out of gas. In last night’s defeat of Martinez, Cotto appeared to still have plenty in the tank when the bout was stopped. Since joining Roach, Cotto has been all business. In both fights under Roach, Cotto was a man on a mission from the opening bell. When Cotto entered the ring last night to take on Martinez there wasn’t any entrance music for him; nor was there a large entourage accompanying him. When Cotto came to the ring he very quickly acknowledged the Puerto Rican fans in attendance before going to a knee to say a brief prayer. Cotto walked into the ring expecting to dominate the 39-year old Martinez and that is exactly what he was able to do.
Even at the age of 33, Cotto appears to be a fighter that can do some damage at the middleweight division.
Prior to Cotto taking on Trout there were talks about him meeting former WBC Junior Middleweight Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. But once Cotto lost to Trout those plans were scrapped. Alvarez is looking to move up in weight and with Cotto now holding two titles at the middleweight division, a fight between these two pugilists would be a big payday for each and it should be pay-per-view worthy.
Once Cotto lost to Mayweather Jr., it appeared that his big paydays were in the rear-view mirror, but with Roach behind him, he has regained his confidence and he is once again garnering interest as a main event guy. The best coaches and trainers are the ones that bring out the best in the athletes that they work with. Roach was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame a few years ago and most people primarily know him for what he has done with Pacquiao, but together he and Cotto are writing a new chapter which will add to each of their legacies.
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