There was the sting of a first-time defeat and lingering talk about whether the loss was delivered by hands wrapped in plaster within a mask of padding. Then, there was a nasty, widely reported split with an uncle and trainer.
The adversity is sustained and stubborn, yet Miguel Cotto moves on, a lot like he moves forward, in a stoic tone revealing only single-minded purpose. Distractions are somebody else’s problem or perhaps question. So are excuses. Cotto doesn’t have time for them.
For the here and now, he only has time for Joshua Clottey on June 13 at New York’s Madison Square Garden in his second bout since his lone loss last summer to Antonio Margarito and his first one since a reported brawl in Puerto Rico with Uncle Evangelista Cotto, his former trainer.
In a conference call Thursday from Tampa, Fla., Cotto didn’t want to talk about the family feud, which reportedly included a cinder block thrown through the window on the passenger side of the welterweight’s Jaguar.
“I’m here, pretty relaxed,” said Cotto, whose Tampa move helped him sidestep inevitable distractions in Puerto Rico after the reported incident in early April. “I don’t want to talk about the situation. It was a family matter, you know.”
Cotto, who has assistant trainer Joe Santiago in his corner and is still seeking a cutman to replace Miguel Diaz, never reveals a whole lot. If he had a seat at the table for one those televised poker games, he wouldn’t need silver shades. He doesn’t blink much. Those eyes are as expressive as a blank page. They only seem to say he is not bluffing.
It is anybody’s guess whether adversity over the last year will affect him, especially against a rugged, big welterweight in a bout that could lead to a shot at Manny Pacquiao, who is expected to be at ringside after the Fighter of the Year is honored on June 12 at the annual Boxing Writers Association dinner.
Cotto didn’t want to talk much about Pacquiao, either. No surprise there. Clottey looms as a very difficult challenge for Cotto, whose performance was considered so-so in a victory, a fifth-round TKO, over Michael Jennings on Feb. 21 in his first bout since Margarito.
But Cotto did talk about the loss to Margarito without any hint at the anger he displayed a few months ago when asked about whether he believed the Mexican welterweight’s gloves were loaded with the plaster-like substance detected by Shane Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson before Mosley’s victory in January at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. This time, Cotto pointed the finger of blame only at himself, or at least his corner’s negligence.
Cotto confirmed what has been reported in Spanish-speaking media and said that nobody from his camp went to the other dressing room at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand to watch trainer Javier Capitello tape Margarito’s hands. Both lost their California licenses, Margarito for a year.
When asked why he didn’t try to get his loss by TKO overturned, Cotto said: “We committed the mistake of not sending anybody to Margarito’s dressing room to check the way Capetillo wrapped his hands. We didn’t check. We can’t talk about something that we didn’t know.”
Still, it has to frustrate Cotto that he didn’t — doesn’t — know because of a dumb oversight. And maybe that frustration is an element in the split with his uncle. We’ll never know, but know this: It’s not a mistake Cotto is likely to repeat. He has only one loss, but he seems to understand, perhaps value, it for lessons he doesn’t want to waste any more than he wastes words.
Only against Clottey will anybody know whether the adversity has forged Cotto into somebody who deserves the first shot at Pacquiao. If he isn’t that fighter, Pacquiao might bypass him altogether in a straight line to Floyd Mayweather Jr., the presumptive favorite over Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen on June 13,” Cotto said. “I only know I’m going to be the winner.”
There are whispered doubts about Cotto because of the corner shuffle, the Margarito loss and even the less-than-spectacular win over Jennings. But Cotto doesn’t hear whispers anymore than he talks about distractions. They all belong in the same bucket of spit.
“If anybody has doubts about me after all I’ve done over the last nine years, they’re not going to believe in me anyway,” said Cotto, who has faced and fought adversity and is facing an imminent fight with some more.
Thoughts of Tyson
Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, died Tuesday after an accident on a treadmill at a home just a few miles from my own. The tragedy happened in a north-central Phoenix neighborhood that is modest and quiet.
It is all the things that Tyson’s life has never been, yet also things he seems to want desperately but could never attain. During his years in Phoenix, the former heavyweight champ was able to provide that elusive peace for a 7-year old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
It is an island away from all the craziness and controversy that has followed Tyson, who protected his kids from his own world. Even if he didn’t always understand that world, he knew not to subject his kids to it. That makes him an understanding dad, a good father and today a grieving one who someday will hopefully find his own peace.
Notes, quotes and oddservations:
? In the first of two conference calls Thursday, there was some good news. Featherweight Israel Vazquez, a pound-for-pound contender, will be back. The California State Athletic Commission cleared him to fight again after examining an eye that was badly injured in his rematch victory over Rafael Marquez in a classic battle on March 1, 2008.
? Report: Light-heavyweight Chad Dawson relinquishes the IBF title, turning down a mandatory against somebody named Tavoris Cloud, who probably would have had about as much of a chance against Dawson as that Gatorade dispenser had against Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Reaction: Hallelujah, in what is another welcome step toward irrelevancy for the ruling acronyms.
? And Cotto is turning the Puerto Rican Day celebration in New York into his own in much the same way that Oscar De La Hoya owned the Mexican holidays, May 5 and Sept. 16. The fight against Clottey is his fourth bout on the eve of the annual parade. Cotto promoter Bob Arum also said it is an opportunity celebrate President Obama’ Supreme Court appointment of Sonia Sotomayor, a jurist of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in the Bronx.
