Opening Bell: Miguel Cotto Stands Tall In Defeat
by Gautham Nagesh
One of the benefits of working at Washington’s premier policy publication is that I share office space with Tim Starks of TQBR, who scored Saturday night’s main event between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto a draw. I spoke briefly with Starks about the fight and his verdict, which was not far from my card of 115-113 Mayweather. We were both in agreement on one note: the quality of the fight was a credit to Cotto, not an indictment of Floyd.
The fighter that showed up at the MGM Grand on Saturday night was the Miguel Cotto of old, not the man that fought Manny Pacquiao in 2009. Miguel brought pressure and made the fight, but he also used his hard jab beautifully to control Floyd and draw blood early. That Floyd was eventually able to gain control of the fight and finish strong is a testament to his will and hard work in the gym. Cotto has nothing to be ashamed of after giving the world’s best boxer his toughest fight in a decade.
HBO replays the fight this Saturday at 10:15 p.m., followed by the debut of the new boxing studio show “The Fight Game with Jim Lampley.”[[MORE]]
PBF Power Outage: Why Cotto was able to stand up to Floyd’s punches so much better than Pacquiao’s remains an open question. Perhaps the Pacman really does hit that much harder than PBF, though you wouldn’t know it by watching them both fight Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao is an all-around more dynamic offensive fighter than Floyd, and he also floored Shane Mosley, which Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was unable to do. But the extra ten pounds appeared to really help Cotto take those punches from Mayweather. Another reason to hate on catch-weight fights.
Corley Chops McCloskey: Congrats to local junior welterweight Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley, who continued his recent run of good form by stopping Paul McCloskey in the 10th round in Belfast on Saturday. I caught portions of the bout, including the end, which saw Corley land a clean right hook flush on McCloskey’s face. Paul wobbled and referee Ian John Lewis jumped in-between to stop the fight. His actions looked clearly premature, but McCloskey was seriously hurt and didn’t protest much afterward.
Before the stoppage, Corley has been landing his right at will and was handling his younger foe well. Since being robbed against prospect Ruslan Provodnikov, Chop Chop has wins over McCloskey and previously unbeaten prospect Gabriel “Tito” Bracero. Corley’s career encompasses the entire range of the fight game, from fighting Zab Judah for the world title to his current role as the trial horse at 140. But he keeps fighting, winning, and proving that you can never count out a real contender.
Wolak Headed to the UFC? Ring Magazine’s Lem Satterfield bring us word that former junior middleweight contender Pawel Wolak, who retired after losing his December rematch against Delvin Rodriguez, is planning to enter mixed martial arts. As a former high school wrestler, Wolak has real credentials and plans to ease into the sport. Hopefully he won’t become a sideshow attraction like James Toney.
Jon Jones is the Worst Athlete in the Family: The recent NFL draft saw the New England Patriots draft Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones with the 21st pick in the first round. In addition to being an exceptional athlete, Jones is also the younger brother of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, also known as Stiff Jab’s favorite mixed martial artist. Older brother Arthur is heading into his second season as a defensive end with the Baltimore Ravens. In other words, if you went to Union-Endicott High School, you didn’t mess with the Jones boys.
Marquez-Judah at Cowboys Stadium? The hot report this weekend was that talks are underway to make Juan Manuel Marquez vs Zab Judah for July 14 at Cowboys Stadium. Presumably Zab became a potential opponent for Marquez after Brandon Rios got handled by Richard Abril (regardless of what the judges said). I’m not in love with this fight, but it’s not terrible. Considering most of the top names at 140 are locked up for the next couple months, at least it pairs two of the best fighters in the division.
My first instinct is that Marquez will knock Zab out, since Judah has often served as the gauge separating the merely good from great, and Marquez is undoubtedly great. But Zab still has enough speed and power to challenge any chin, as Vernon Paris recently found out. Regardless, it’s hard to see this pairing selling 80,000 seats in Arlington, Texas. Hopefully the promoters have another big-name pairing for the undercard, otherwise they seem poised for a stadium full of empty seats.