Miguel Cotto really took on an assignment last Saturday that could only confuse the boxing public. If Geale had pulled off the upset, or even held Cotto close, we would have assumed (as I did) that Cotto was done, and the Martinez fight was a last hurrah. However, the marketing machine of Cotto's "rebirth" can continue. Cotto looked great, yes, but Geale looked very ordinary, as well. The draining of weight, or mental uncertainty of having lost to GGG, or whatever caused it, he was not there. For the second time in a row, he quit. He seems to make an annual trip out of flying halfway around the world to work for 10 minutes, and then shake his head that he is done. Lucrative... but not very professional.
Cotto is looking good with fighters who will let him, and scoring bigger wins than most are capable of against his level of opposition. However, by his own admission, he is not a middleweight... Therefore he is likely to force every opponent to meet him at a catch-weight. We also do not quite know how good he will look against a top level fighter in his prime, like Canelo. Will his boxing skills endure when he faces an iron-chinned fighter? How will his skin and chin hold up when he is hit by a puncher? Will he fight GGG afterwards, or retire? Will Canelo fight GGG if he wins? True, Canelo has also been inactive and matched right to look sensational, but there remains more questions about Cotto.
There is also the aspect of expectations. Because both have looked sensational against certain opponents, does not mean they will do so against each other. I hope they do, but it is not a guarantee. We need to step back and realize we are being marketed to. I used to think the HBO commentators were on the fairer side, however, I no longer think this. There was a hard headbutt right before the left hook that dropped Geale. No mention was made of it at all, even after clear replays indicated such. Was the HBO team under gag orders not to question Cotto's brilliance? We already lost ESPN2, and now it seems as if the 'rah rah' PBC/GBP method of 'yes-men' announcers is becoming the norm. This is a sad phenomena at any level, but when it makes its way to HBO, it is even sadder.
I love how great Cotto looked, as it whets my appetite for a fight I was interested in already, but Cotto coming in under 154? Outright saying he is not a middleweight? Canelo only coming up to 155 for Kirkland? It seems as if the winner is already packaging an "I'm too small for GGG" excuse to either avoid the Kazakh star altogether, or force him to an unnatural weight for the bout. I am hoping for what we all want. GBP and Haymon are already visibly steering their fighters away from GGG or even Cotto. It's as if there are two middleweight divisions. Lee, Lemieux, Quillin and Jacobs can be happily forgotten, however, if the top 3 get it on in the next 12 months.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com