[Boxing Glove Notes]
Saturday, October 5, former 4 time world champ Miguel Angel Cotto rapidly and with bad intentions knocked out journeyman Delvin Rodriguez, 18 seconds in the 3rd round at the Amway Center, Orlando, Florida.
It was almost as if he was in a hurry to go to his Mom’s home for a great and delicious home cook dinner in Caguas, Puerto Rico. In all of the years that I have been a Cotto-watcher even in his best days and before his 4 defeats which include 2 knockout losses, I never saw Cotto so aggressive from the first bell punishing an opponent as he did Rodriguez.
Maybe the “magic” of contracting Freddy Roach as his trainer was the answer all along in his 42 fight career that produced 31 knockouts. It makes us think of the possibility of Cotto maybe now could’ve been 42-0 instead of 38-4, if he had had Roach from the very beginning of his boxing career.
The reality is that Delvin Rodriguez a veteran fighter was really way in over his head fighting a Miguel Cotto who was really fighting for his life extension in his boxing career and “selected” a willing partner for his cross-roads comeback.
You could almost read between the lines in Delvin’s comments of confidence that he will win, and that this was the chance he was waiting for, at the press conferences; that they were just empty comments with no substance, hoping of course, that perhaps this Cotto that he was facing was the “shop-worn” Cotto who suffered 2 horrific knockouts and 2 straight losses.
This was not to be because this was a “prime-time” Cotto that I had seen many years ago; a solid quiet methodical machine of destruction after he sized you up almost from the very first round.
Rodriguez did try to fight back using his height, his speed, his good jab and his knockout loaded right hand. He had scored 16 k.o.’s.-, but it was to no avail; Cotto was relentless and would not be stopped no matter what Rodriguez did offensively or defensively.
The fight crowd screaming for blood, cheered louder and louder as Cotto pounded a helpless Rodriguez from pillar to post in those short 6 minutes and 18 seconds. Cotto in essence was like a “raging-bull” trying to salvage his boxing career, and it seems that he has succeeded.
It is quite possible that if Cotto had lost to Rodriguez it would’ve put an end to his plans of fighting 4 more fights in a mega fashion level and then retiring with honors.
During the post-fight interviews Cotto praised trainer Roach for helping him reach his goal and indicated that he will be under his tutelage until he retires. A question that was never asked by the interviewer, is, what is going to happen when and if Miguel Cotto contracts to fight Manny Pacquiao, Freddy Roach’s number 1 pupil?
Think about this problem folks, and give me an answer even if “I KNOW IT”. Miguel Cotto has stated many times that he wants to avenge that knockout loss to Pacquiao.
What I am also sure of although unofficially is the fact that Cotto will go after Carlos Molina for his I.B.O. Junior Middleweight title-he wants another boxing crown-, and then defend it against Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez, who probably is still in an emotional disarray after the embarrassing 12 round boxing lesson he received courtesy of the ring master, “Professor” Floyd a.k.a. “Money” Mayweather.
Is Miguel Cotto really back? We will just have to wait and see how he performs in his next fight.
Delvin Rodriguez, 33, still has a boxing career at 28-7-3, 16 knockouts, ahead of him but, unfortunately he will always be labeled a journeyman fighter who will remain at that level. Delvin, who grew up in a farm in the Dominican Republic and arrived here at the age of 9, could shock the world and challenge and defeat Carlos Molina, and finally fulfill his dreams of becoming a world champion.
But that may be a stretch since Molina has already indicated that he wants mega fights such as with Cotto, Alvarez, and possibly Mayweather.
So now you have 2 boxers whose careers are going in opposite directions and perhaps the only comfort zone for Rodriguez is that this fight earned him his biggest fight purse. Cotto of course will go on to more lucrative mega purses which of course include the very rich pay-per-view boxing matches. This is the “Sweet-Science”, but let’s not forget that it is also the “Hurt Business”, and a nice sizeable monetary purse would compensate the losing fighters and especially their families.
As the year 2013 begins to wind down the fight promoters have perhaps gifted us with a schedule of some very interesting and exciting fights of some of the bigger and marquee names in boxing. Listed below are just a few of the fights:
October 12, 2013—Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Timothy Bradley—W.B.O.147Lb. Title Fight, Las Vegas, Nevada
October 19, 2013—Mike Alvarado vs. Ruslan Provodnikov—W.B.O. 140 Lb. Title Fight, Denver, Colorado
October 26, 2013—Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins vs. Karu Murat—I.B.F. Light Heavyweight Title Fight
Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin vs. Gabriel Rosado—W.B.O. Middleweight Title Fight
(Hopkins and Quillin will defend their titles on the same day at Atlantic City, N.J.)
November 2, 2013—Gennady “3G” Golovkin vs. Curtis “Showtime” Stevens—W.B.A. Middleweight Title Fight, Madison Square Garden, New York City
November 23, 2013—Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao vs. Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios—147 Lb. Non-Title Fight—Macao, China
