Cotto's Road to Redemption

Today, in the second of our three-part series, we look at the defending champion and his story leading up to now.

Miguel Cotto genuflected on the canvas. It was not a pose of respect or homage, but rather of exhaustion and disbelief.

Wiping down his cheek with gloves only a shade of red lighter than the blood dripping his face, the outgoing WBA welterweight champion was left to reflect on the direction of his career.

Never in his previous 32 fights had he eaten punishment congruent to the kind doled out by Mexican challenger Antonio Margarito on July 26, 2008. Then again, before that night he had never tasted defeat, either.

Up to that point, Cotto’s career was on cruise control. Holding masterful wins over former champions Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, and Carlos Quintana, along with the retirement of then-welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, it seemed that the time was right to assume the throne of the 147-pound division and make a run toward the top of the pound-for-pound rankings.

Margarito laid those hopes to rest.

While Cotto would eke out a small lead early on by using his boxing skills and outjabbing his opponent, it was short-lived. His punches had minimal effect in deterring Margarito from coming forward. On the other hand, the Mexican’s volleys landed on his face with all of the courtesy of a meteor shower.

The vicious onslaught culminated in an eleventh round where Cotto was forced to take a knee twice, resulting in his uncle Evangelista throwing in the towel to induce a stoppage. Margarito had derailed the Cotto Express. Some pundits even wondered if this loss marked the end of his run as an elite fighter.

This was not how the story was supposed to end.

After representing his homeland in a moderately successful Sydney Olympics in 2000, the pride of Caguas, Puerto Rico, stormed out the gate by winning his first thirteen fights and being awarded ESPN’s Prospect of the Year in 2002. A Top Rank signee, head promoter and CEO Bob Arum and matchmaker Bruce Trampler brought him along seamlessly with gradual degrees of difficulty as he rose up the junior welterweight division, utilizing the same formula that made Oscar De La Hoya a household name.

Two years later, he finally made it to a 140-pound title eliminator, efficiently dominating tough gatekeeper Lovemore N’Dou in a unanimous decision and showing HBO the kid was for real. It also just so happened that the fight occurred as the co-feature to Manny Pacquiao’s first defense of his 126-pound title against then-Top Rank house fighter Juan Manuel Marquez.

However, after winning the WBO junior welterweight title in a six-round obliteration of his former amateur conqueror, Kelson Pinto, the tight defense for which Cotto garnered acclaim earlier in his career suddenly became a point of contention. In his subsequent wins against rest of the top ten in the division, it raised the eyebrows of many when he was tagged with frequency, giving up several rounds to inferior fighters like DeMarcus Corley, Ricardo Torres, and Paulie Malignaggi.

At the same time, the champion in the same organization in the division directly above his was beginning to catch the attention of the boxing world.

Antonio Margarito was brutally knocking out contenders for his 147-pound WBO belt and began to attract the Mexican fans because of his come-forward style. A stablemate of Cotto’s at Top Rank, he began to deflect some of Arum’s interest away from the Puerto Rican star, who unlike Margarito, shied away from the flashbulbs and media.

Nonetheless, in 2005, he—and not Margarito—was still the heir apparent to becoming the face of the Top Rank empire. With prized superstars De La Hoya and Mayweather having left Arum’s stable to pursue self-promotional interests, it was only natural that the Puerto Rican take the torch and become the promotional juggernaut's next Pay-Per-View sensation.

However, citing his inability to make weight, he abdicated his title and moved up to Margarito’s division of 147 pounds. In his first fight at welterweight, he overwhelmed his countryman Quintana in five rounds and claimed the WBA welterweight championship, his second belt in as many classes.

After convincing and impressive defenses against Judah and Mosley dispelled any thoughts that the extra weight would be too much for him to carry, Arum had invigorated talks of bringing Mayweather out of retirement and finally launching Miguel to superstardom.

When negotiations fell through, the obvious option was a fight with Margarito, who was coming off an upset loss to Paul Williams and looked vulnerable.

In a move that he would soon regret, the Puerto Rican star signed the contract. Cotto would eventually succumb to this war of attrition, his reputation in shambles and his boxing soul now in the possession of his rival stablemate.

When it rains, it pours. In attempting to regroup after the loss, Team Cotto fell apart like a house of cards. Miguel and his uncle argued over the location of their next training locale; the dispute turned violent as Evangelista hurled a brick at his nephew, wrecking the former champion’s Jaguar and marking the end of a tumultuous but successful relationship.

To add insult to injury, Pacquiao, who had once ignited a rivalry with Top Rank fighters like Marquez and Erik Morales, not only signed with Arum in 2006, but effectively usurped Cotto’s place at the top of the food chain at Top Rank by sharing the marquee in two of the top fourteen boxing gate receipts in the history of Las Vegas.

However, it only took a little bit of chemistry to change Cotto’s fortunes.

In Margarito’s next bout, reports surfaced that he was caught with traces of plaster in his hand wraps. After being ordered to re-wrap his hands, the seemingly invincible Mexican was systematically destroyed by Mosley, a legend that Cotto had already defeated with ease.

In the wake of Margarito’s indefinite suspension immediately following the fight, the events brought a whole new perspective toward assessing Miguel Cotto’s legacy. Although it can never be proven that Margarito fought Cotto with doctored gloves, one could make the argument that he was never defeated in the ring within the rules.

While the consolation of Margarito’s demise did not restore Cotto’s status as champion, he made changes necessary to make his way back to the top. For one, he replaced his uncle as trainer with untested Joe Santiago, which drew instant criticism.

Regardless, the partnership has paid dividends, with victories over Michael Jennings and Joshua Clottey highlighting a renaissance and his second reign as welterweight titlist, paving the road for an epic showdown with Pacquiao.

And the stakes are much higher than the WBO version of the welterweight belt he aims to defend.

A victory this Saturday will extend him an invitation to enter an exclusive pantheon reserved for Boricua boxing immortals including Wilfredo Gomez, Carlos Ortiz, and Felix Trinidad.

Maybe more importantly, for Miguel Angel Cotto to have his arm raised in triumph tomorrow would be to earn what has been denied him at long last: a place at the head of the table at Top Rank as well as atop the boxing world.

TOMORROW MORNING: A preview of the fight complete with analysis and a prediction.

Miguel Cotto defends his WBO world welterweight championship against Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, November 14, live on Pay-Per-View (coverage starts 9ET/6PT).