Pride vs Heart
I specifically chose not to do a Betting With Bread segment on tonight's 154-pound title fight between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Instead I want to give you guys insight on what to look for. Experience a fight through my eyes. After you read this, maybe you will bet, maybe you won't......
If we assume that BOTH fighters can perform at peak level, Miguel Cotto has to do MORE to be successful. I have watched their 1st fight, 5 times in the last 2 days and I have observed some disturbing trends from Cotto.
Cotto was given credit for boxing EFFECTIVELY early on in the 1st fight. He did box effectively to an extent but he didn't box CORRECTLY. Even early on in the fight I watched Cotto, get off multiple punch combinations, then scamper backwards or in BIG circles to a corner, wait for Margarito to come to him, allow Margarito to get off a few shots, then repeat that scenario over and over again. Cotto made himself easy to be TRACKED. Even the rounds that Cotto was winning he displayed poor RING GENERALSHIP. Very few fighters who are forced to box at the ELITE level can burn that kind of purposeless energy and be successful.
History. A friend once told me, that someone said to him, Bread doesn't know about boxing, he knows about the history of boxing. I never supply haters with fuel, so I never asked who said it. If you don't know history, you are DOOMED to repeat it. Miguel Cotto has to know his HISTORY for this fight.
For one he can't BOX the way he did the last fight. He must also realize that the best way to stop a runaway truck is to flatten it's tires(body shots). Cotto has to box Margarito in tight circles, tie him up when he doesn't want to punch and go to his BODY.
History has showed us that great pressure fighters like to give it to the body but they don't like it there. For that matter nobody does. Let's look back. Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquioa both went to Margarito's body with great effect and slowed down his late charge. Pernell Whitaker went to Julio Cesar Chavez's body and slowed down his late charge. Arturo Gatti did a great job of slowing Mickey Ward down in their 2nd and 3rd fights, with what body shots. The most impressive display of this is what Floyd Mayweather did to Diego Corrales, Corrales a simliar killed or be killed type that Margarito is. Mayweather kept stabbing Corrales to the body with a power jab. He put it in the pit of his stomach and in his breast bone(heart). After round 6, Corrales kept getting knocked down and he couldn't undertand why. I know why.
A fighter once said to me that he can EAT body shots because they didn't HURT. I told him that , that train of thought was ignorant. Just because a body shot doesn't hurt in essence that doesn't mean they aren't taking effect. There is a reason why your ribs are located in the core of your body. Most of your functional organs are there. If a fighter takes too much punishment to the body, it may not hurt him, but it will deplete him. He won't be able to exert the same amount of energy after absorbing enough body blows. Cotto has to find a way to put in good body work early. Miguel used to be the best body puncher in boxing around 2004-2007. Now he doesn't go down there much anymore and it hurts him. His countryman Felix Trinidad made the same counterproductive transformation late in his career.
I am a movie buff. I loved the movie No Country For Old Men. The serial killer character Antione Segur reminds me of Antoinio Margarito. He may or may not get his man, but he never stops trying. His effort is what breaks most. I would love to take a poll and ask some experts, who would they pick to win if Cotto and Margarito fought in a match where there was no time limit. The only way you could win is simply if your opponent quit. I would assume the overwhelming majority would pick Margarito. I know I would. A guy like Margarito has a simple approach. He doesn't have to think just react. Sometimes less can be more. Get in great condition, harden my body and punch until he can't take it no more, is Margarito's motto.
If Cotto can box correctly this time, he has a great chance of winning. He can't just box, he has to dictate the ACTION. Control Margarito with smarts, time management and distance. Not just simply flurry and move. That won't get it done. Cotto has admitted he is not willing to die in a ring, but he has to be willing to go to hell.
What will happen to Cotto if he finds out that Margarito is still a hard puncher, without the plaster? What if he finds out Margarito has just as much stamina, takes just as good as punch and is just as nasty? Cotto will have to draw inspiration from the death of his beloved Father and the 15,000 boriquas that will push him on.
Margarito is the come to DIE TYPE, Miguel Cotto is the come to WIN TYPE, I expect a FIGHT OF THE YEAR TYPE.
G
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