Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) raised eyebrows in the U.S. with his cold and calculated destruction of the gatekeepers of the jr. welterweight division early in this decade. At the same time he captured the collective heart of the Puerto Rican boxing fan. After knocking out former title challenger, Justin Juuko in his tenth professional fight, it was clear that Cotto would be the successor to Felix ?Tito? Trinidad, the long-time favorite son of Puerto Rico. Cotto?s aggressive style and killer instinct made him a sight to behold. When he was rocked and on shaky legs, as was the case several times early in his career, he always found a way to come back and turn his eager opponent away. What Cotto lacked in the one-punch power department, he made up for with tenacity and determination, wearing his opponents down with an unpredictable, yet highly effective attack to the head and body.
By the time Trinidad retired as a full-time boxer in 2002, Cotto was poised to make a run through a long line of fighters that helped him matriculate towards his first title shot in 2004. Cotto eventually won the vacant WBO jr. welterweight title against an overmatched Kelson Pinto, knocking him out in the sixth round. Cotto would go on to make six successful title defenses, his last being a brutal twelve-round beating of Paulie Malignaggi, before moving up to the welterweight division to seek bigger and better challenges.
It was in the welterweight division that Cotto stepped up his level of competition and showed he was more than a protected product of Top Rank Promotions? expert matchmaking. Cotto bulldozed Carlos Quintana to win the vacant WBA belt in his welterweight debut before going on to victimize Oktay Urkal in his first title defense as a welterweight. It was not the wins over Quintana and Urkal that helped define Cotto, it was his wins over Zab Judah and Shane Mosley, both still dangerous and legitimate threats in 2007.
After a rough start against Judah that had Cotto hanging on for dear life, a couple of timely low blows landed below Judah?s cup gave Cotto the time he needed to recover and turn the tide. Cotto turned the fight around, and despite suffering deep cuts in his mouth, Cotto bounced Judah around the ring before the fight was stopped in the eleventh round.
In November of 2007, Cotto went up against Shane Mosley after we saw a brief thawing in the cold war between Golden Boy and Top Rank. Cotto boxed effectively in the early rounds to give himself a comfortable lead, and he spent the later rounds in retreat and putting his biggest flaw on display for the world to see. While Mosley came forward and brought the fight to Cotto, we saw Cotto?s inability to fight going backwards. When Cotto is coming forward and being aggressive, he sits down on his punches and they carry much more power than when he?s backpedaling and throwing arm punches at his opponent. Cotto escaped with a close unanimous decision victory over Mosley, setting up his July 2008 classic fight with Antonio Margarito.
