Last Night's Fights
In opting to watch Miguel Angel Cotto on HBO, I missed Antonio Tarver’s win over Clinton Woods. Periodically I’d glance over to see how Tarver was doing. He looked in shape and focused—plenty for beating a limited guy like Woods.
In the earlier Showtime light heavyweight title bout, Glen Johnson looked like the second coming of Henry Hank. He probably deserved the nod over Chad Dawson. It was certainly a very close (good) fight. Dawson adapted to the expert advice of Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. It was a great learning experience for him, but it's true that he didn't execute as well as expected.
Antonio Margarito looked awfully good. He’s a dangerous guy. He needs very little space in which to work. He’s throws great uppercuts and wonderful body shots. He also can shift position very well, using almost no foot movement to do it. He’s not a huge puncher, but his bones themselves—his hands and wrists and forearms—seem very heavy. But he was in with a genuine dog in Cintron. Kermit obviously fights under the misapprehension that boxing is a team sport--you and the referee against the other guy. Let's hope we never have to see him in a major fight again. I can't believe anyone gave him a shot to beat Tony.
Miguel Angel Cotto was playing around with a beginner last night; it's impossible to make much out of his fight except to conclude, once again, that the guy's a very good puncher. I'll happily anticipate Cotto-Margarito.
Alfonso Gomez had no business being given the opportunity to fight Cotto. HBO rewarded him again for not being very good (since he got a gift with the Gatti fight--a bout HBO certainly never intended for him to win.)
posted by Charles Farrell @ 7:52 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I look forward to Margarito-Cotto. IF Cotto's punch can't keep Margarito from bringing the fight to him without trepidation, Cotto will be in deep water. I think stylistically, Margarito and Mayweather present difficult match-ups for Migel. Margarito has the chin, endurance, durability and mindset to grind him down. As for Mayweather, Floyd will force Cotto to fight as the attacker, therefor taking away his counter-punching ability. By Mayweather bringing Cotto to him, he'll be controlling the fight, unless Cotto can hurt him and force im to fight and trade.
I agree Cotto-Margarito will be a difficult fight for both. Margarito is taller than Cotto, but can blast his way inside. He landed lots of solid right hands on Cintron Saturday night, as well as those digging left hooks to the body. Cotto, of course, is also a body puncher, and probably is a more well-rounded boxer than Margarito. Both are also mean in the ring, which is a necessary job requirement. (I wonder if they had to pass a mean test to get a title shot.)
The winner may get two belts, but maybe not if the IBF strips Margarito for taking his first defense not against their mandatory, Joshua Clottey, but the WBA champ, Cotto. The IBF, by the way, right before this fight had Margarito ranked fourth and Clottey first, even though Margarito beat Clottey by unanimous decision when they fought Dec. 2, 2006. So who will give a shit what they say now?
I could also see more than one Cotto-Margarito fight, especially if Floyd doesn’t want to fight a meaningful fight any time soon. Cotto and Margarito seem fairly evenly matched and both are aggressive, so this could be a memorable battle.
Now that HBO is done with their supposed build-up show, we can return to seeing the best fight the best.
Eddie, I don't think the belts mean anything in the Cotto-Margarito fight. The winner will be acknowledged as the best welter in the world, except for the Mayweather apologist.
Post a Comment
<< Home