Miguel Cotto?s decision to face Daniel Geale this Saturday instead of Saul Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin has plenty of people up in arms about the Puerto Rican?s apparent disregard for the fans and for his legacy. But before diving into any of that, let?s tell two very quick stories that may not seem related, but ultimately may have everything to do with Cotto?s new low-risk philosophy.
Heavyweight contender Magomed Abdusalamov, who suffered permanent brain damage in a bout against Mike Perez eighteen months ago, may soon become homeless, along with his wife and three daughters. The Abdusalamov family is destitute after quickly exhausting their savings and charitable donations to pay hospital bills and costly rehabilitation for the fighter. Their lawsuit against the New York State Athletic Commission continues to drag at a snail?s pace.
Junior featherweight journeyman Frankie Leal died from injuries sustained in the ring in October, 2013. The boxing world, collectively, could only manage to raise $6,181 via GoFundMe for Leal?s young widow and children, who have to somehow pick up the pieces of a world turned upside down.
Miguel Cotto is a very old 34 and has sustained way too many beatings for a man of his age. He?s also not a dumb man. He knows, as every fighter should, that when you?re no longer able to make a fist and amuse the masses, nobody will care about what happens to you or your family.
And because he understands this and knows where he stands, competitively, at this stage of his game, Cotto is playing it smart for the first time in his career. Finally his own man, calling his own shots, the Boricua battler is padding his bank account and adding to his assets, which are said to include a chain of gas stations in Puerto Rico and some choice island real estate.
Maybe if boxing nerds hadn?t stuck him with the ridiculous and completely farcical ?Lineal Champ? status, there wouldn?t be this outrage at Cotto refusing to walk face first into threshing machines. Maybe logic would set in and Golovkin wouldn?t have to beat Cotto in order to follow through on a lineage that is, really, only four fighters long, anyway. Maybe Alvarez wouldn?t be compelled to be the man to retire him. Maybe the world accepts Cotto for what he truly is?a junior middleweight who exploited a fatal flaw in an aged, vulnerable middleweight champion.
The fact is that both Golovkin and Alvarez would put a real beating on Cotto at this point and Cotto is clearly playing the risk-reward game by facing Geale at a 157 lb. catchweight rather than more lucrative, but more dangerous match-ups. For Cotto, disregarding the preposterous lineal champ baloney, Geale at a handicap is about right. Cotto-Geale will likely be a more competitive match-up than Golovkin-Geale turned out to be.
At the heart of the matter, though, is the fact that Miguel Cotto doesn?t owe us a damn thing. So what if he is padding his bank account against a lesser foe? So what if he is letting down keyboard warriors everywhere, who will go to sleep sound and secure, regardless of what happens to him?
The future Hall of Famer may be an entertaining warrior to fans and media, but his more important role is that of father, husband, and provider. With age and experience, Cotto has figured that out.
Miguel Cotto, the man, will have to live two-thirds of his life with the affects of what he did to his body in the first third of his life, propped up by money earned the hard way over just fourteen years of career. And not a single person?not the fickle fans or the jaded media?will be there for him and his family when he?s out of the spotlight.
