was never told. Now that I?m startin? to learn, I feel I?m growing old.? For Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs), who is 31 but in the minds of most boxing fans may as well be turning forty for all of the miles on his odometer, these lyrics are oddly appropriate. Nobody told the Puerto Rican that his opponent for his WBA title at welterweight back in 2008, Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) could?ve been using loaded hand wraps in what would, for Margarito, be a fateful turning point in the arc of his career. Now that Cotto is getting his rematch seven pounds up the scale, people are wondering how much he has left in his tank.
Make no mistake about it. If you buy one pay-per-view this year, make it this one, because for fifty-five bucks you not only get an intriguing main event between two big punchers who deliver the goods every time they step into the ring, you also get a rematch of a Fight of the Year candidate at junior middleweight, a guaranteed war at welterweight, and a big underdog fighting for a title at lightweight. Without further ado, here?s everything you need to get you ready for a televised early Christmas present from the Sweet Science.
Pawel Wolak (29-1-1, 19 KOs) vs. Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-3, 14 KOs), jr. middleweights
Anyone who says ?everything?s bigger in Texas? has never been in a subway tunnel in New York. It is in that spirit that, during the fourth round of their first fight at the Roseland Ballroom, Pawel Wolak suffered a hematoma that was less a ?mouse? (as such things are known by the grizzled Burgess Meredith types that patrol boxing corners) and more a full-sized New York City sewer rat. With Wolak unable to see out of his right eye, what started out as a strong effort by the Polish fighter to keep his opponent on the back foot turned into a back-and-forth war that ended in a majority draw and left everyone who saw the fight begging for a rematch.
Well, the boxing gods listened. The last time the consensus Fight of the Year was not for a world title was in 2003, as Micky Ward?s third fight with Arturo Gatti, the third time in a row Ward had been involved in a Fight of the Year, took the crown. Since then we?ve had seven years and seven world titles, but that streak may very well end in 2011. All those boxing fans who argue that only fights between champions are worth paying big money for are strongly advised to turn on their TV when this card hits air for an object lesson in why that assertion could not be further from the truth. This is a Boxing After Dark main event masquerading as an undercard fight.
