There have never been so many doubts hovering above Miguel Cotto before a fight than there are for his 12-round match against WBA 154-pound champion Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium Saturday night.
Cotto is coming off a devastating loss to Manny Pacquiao. That – and a severe beating he took at the hands of Antonio Margarito – have many people wondering if he is a damaged boxer.
A former junior welterweight and welterweight champion, Cotto is moving up to 154 pounds to fight for the first time and is seeking a title in a third weight class in the match against Foreman, which will be broadcast on HBO.
He has switched trainers, hiring the well-regarded Emanuel Steward to replace Joe Santiago, who trained him for two fights but has returned to his previous job as Cotto’s conditioning coach.
And Cotto was dealt an emotional blow when his father, a guiding force in his life personally and professionally, died suddenly of a heart attack back in January.
It is hard to tell whether any of these issues are having an impact on Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs), whose cool exterior hides anything that might be going on inside of him.
“People say, ‘Is he affected by his father’s death?’ I would say yes, because I assume that. But do I know that? No,” said Bob Arum, Cotto’s longtime promoter.
Cotto will probably take a heavy heart into the ring with him. But he said he still feels his father’s presence.
“My father stays with me everyday. He’s going to stay with me in the corner,” Cotto said.
Cotto really missed his father when he opened training camp in Tampa to prepare for the Foreman fight.
“It was hard, you know. He was the person that did everything for me,” he said. “He left my Mom behind and she represents him now. He never left us. He stayed with us and he guided us. He never left me.”
Steward represents the biggest change Cotto has ever made in his professional career. From the time that he was an amateur he has had only two trainers. His uncle, Evangelista, was his first trainer and worked with him through the fight with Margarito. The two parted because Cotto said his uncle was too concerned with other fighters and wasn’t concentrating enough on getting him prepared for his fights. He also thinks that his uncle may have missed illegal hand wraps that Margarito may have been using.
One fight after Margarito battered Cotto, the illegal hand wraps were discovered by Shane Mosley’s trainer, Nazim Richardson, during a routine pre-fight exam before Margarito fought Mosley last year. Margarito’s license was subsequently revoked by the California boxing commission.
