THEY say attrition brings out the best or worst in people. Some rise to the ocassion and react brillantly. Others turn vile and repulsive.
When Mike Tyson was on the receiving end of Evander Holyfield?s headbutts, he went berserk and became a connoisseur of human flesh by biting off a huge chunk of the Real Meal?s ear and spitting it out like Gordon Ramsay.
Last Sunday, an inspired Miguel Cotto unleashed the most violent attack he could muster, but Floyd Mayweather Jr. demonstrated he?s made of sterner stuff and dug down deep, winning the fight on the strength of his brilliant sharpshooting in the championship rounds.
The cerebral counter-puncher that he is, Floyd usually takes his time before breaking down his opponent.
If you?re careless like Victor Ortiz was, he?ll pounce upon seeing an opening, and take you out. If you present a viable threat like Oscar de la Hoya, he?ll opt to outwork you and get the decision.
THE FIGHT. The first few rounds were close as Cotto was trying to apply his pre-conceived strategy while Floyd was second-guessing it. However, the latter consistently landed the sharper, stinging punches.
Cotto came out strong in the fourth and landed some combinations, but Floyd employed his defensive tactics to good use while scoring some eye-catching counters.
I thought Floyd started to pull away in the middle rounds as Cotto seemed to tire, but the latter came alive and got his second wind in the eighth and threw caution to the wind. He was able to trap Floyd along the ropes and landed hooks and crosses.
?Pretty Boy? won the championship rounds as he took advantage of his spent opponent. He hurt Cotto with a brillant uppercut and nearly had him out and made sure he finished strong in a defining fight of his career.
BORROWING A PAGE. The fighters who gave Floyd trouble in his career were De la Hoya(who lost only via split decision) Jose Luis Castillo (who fought Floyd twice and gave him hell), and Zab Judah(who landed several solid left straights and briefly gave him problems with his southpaw stance).
Cotto seemed to have borrowed something from each of those fighters and combined a hybrid attack. At times, he mirrored Castillo?s single-minded aggression, borrowed from the effective Oscar jab and bullied him along the ropes, and would switch into southpaw stance to give Floyd different views and angles.
GETTING OLD. Floyd?s performance was undeniably impressive against a refurbished Cotto but it wasn?t exactly as dominant as he would have wanted it to be.
Not to take anything away from Cotto as it could reasonably be argued that it was what he did and not Floyd?s performance that made it a closely fought contest, but Floyd did not appear to be as imperious as he once was.
At 35, he doesn?t move around the ring a lot anymore and increasingly relies on his defensive prowess to deflect and parry oncoming artillery while standing toe to toe.
Maybe it?s his way of conserving energy for the championship rounds, but whatever the case, he?s certainly not the same fighter who boxed circles around the then undefeated Diego Corralles in 11 rounds 10 years ago.
This ushers in the oft repeated call for the Floyd-Pacquiao fight to be made soon while we can still reasonably expect a compelling struggle between two athletes at the apogee of the sport.
Based on HBO?s numbers, the Floyd-Cotto fight brought in 1.5 million buys, making it the second highest grossing non-heavyweight bout in history. This should be impetus for the boxing suits to get their acts together and make this fight happen hopefully late this year or early next year.
Manny himself has to do his part and win convincingly against Tim Bradley next month.
The longer the fight takes place, the greater the probability that we the fans will be robbed of seeing the fistic equivalent of Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran fight of our generation while both fighters are still at their relative peaks.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my daughter, Jenya Mary Louise who turns seven. Happy Birthday baby Enya.
