LAS VEGAS ? It?s impossible to measure a boxer the way scouts grade an NFL draft prospect.
A fighter?s time in the 40 is irrelevant. So, too, is his bench press. All the tangibles scouts look for in the next great pass rusher mean next-to-nothing for a boxer.
The things that mean everything in boxing are those that can?t be measured.
Desire. Courage. Patience. Timing. Ferocity. Fortitude.
Miguel Cotto has those, and more, and it?s why he?ll walk to the ring on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center to face Canelo Alvarez as the linear middleweight champion.
Cotto is no middleweight. He?s 5-feet-7 with a 67-inch reach. The world?s best middleweights are Gennady Golovkin, who is 5-11 with a 70-inch reach; Andy Lee, who is 6-2 with a 75-inch reach; Daniel Jacobs, who is 6 feet with a 73-inch reach; and Peter Quillin, who is 6 feet with a 71?-inch reach.
Even Alvarez, who is a super welterweight, has physical advantages over the 35-year-old Cotto. Alvarez, in addition to being 10 years younger, is two inches taller and has a 3?-inch edge in reach.
Cotto isn?t blindingly fast like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao, but he?s stamped his ticket to the International Boxing Hall of Fame just as they have.
The Puerto Rican star, who fought as a 139-pounder in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, has overcome the lack of physical gifts with a heart and a desire that knows no bounds.
When he seemed to be fading, after back-to-back losses to Mayweather and Austin Trout, many called for his retirement. But Cotto wasn?t ready to quit and enlisted the services of Freddie Roach.
Roach got through to Cotto in a way his previous trainers could not. It invigorated Cotto, who rebounded by stopping three men in a row, including future Hall of Famer and former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, in a stunning late-career resurgence.
?Miguel is a real pro and he knows what it takes to get ready for, and win, a big fight,? Roach told Yahoo Sports. ?I kind of helped point him in the right direction in terms of some things he?d gotten away from, and he?s been more than I could have hoped for.?
Fans began clamoring for Cotto to face Alvarez only minutes after stopping Martinez at Madison Square Garden following nine one-sided rounds.
This fight has a great allure beyond the rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican fighters because of their styles. Both men are offensive fighters who look to inflict punishment and not just win by points.
?I?ve been saying for years that we need to have the best fight the best and that if we do, that will get boxing back on top,? promoter Oscar De La Hoya said. ?And that?s what this fight is all about. These are two guys who nobody can question their accomplishments, but they go out there and fight with their hearts.?
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Cotto (L) is older and smaller than Canelo Alvarez. (Getty) De La Hoya is aligned with Alvarez, but nobody in boxing fights with more heart or passion than Cotto. He?s not an emotional guy and doesn?t wear his heart on his sleeve the way his countryman, fast-rising star Felix Verdejo, does.
Cotto is all business just about all the time, and when he steps in the ring, his business is inflicting punishment.
The legendary Sugar Ray Robinson once said, ?I?m in the hurt business,? and it?s a business that many years later, Cotto would enter. Even the great defensive master Mayweather came out of his fight with Cotto swollen, bruised and bloody. Mayweather won, but he paid a price for it.
That?s how it has been for Cotto. He has a will that cannot be measured, and it has lifted him to heights beyond what his physical talents suggest should have been possible.
There have been faster boxers and bigger punchers. There have been many with quicker feet and better reaction times.
Few of them, though, were able to maximize what they had more than Cotto. He?s been a great technician who mastered his trade and wanted to win more than just about anyone he ever fought.
He faces an uphill task against Alvarez, who has many of the same attributes but has the advantage of being 10 years younger.
The thousands of fans who have descended upon the famous Las Vegas Strip to see this fight know, no matter which side they are on, that if there is a man capable of overcoming physical obstacles, it?s the legend from Caguas, Puerto Rico.
