12.05.07 – By Eddie Velez: Friday night was supposed to be a shining moment for the Cotto Family. Jose Miguel Cotto was fighting for the vacant WBA lightweight title against Prawet Singwangcha; Younger brother Miguel Cotto was Co-Promoting his first nationally televised card. The shining moment never came and the night turned into a bad episode of Jerry Springer.
As the telecast began, everything seemed to be going well for the Cotto family, at least based on appearances. They had a decent crowd on hand, and it looked like it was going to be a good event. Cotto started out strong, winning the first three rounds of the fight in a dominating fashion. During this time, Jose’s brother, Miguel, seemed satisfied with what was transpiring in the ring.
However, Jose quickly began tiring starting in the 4th, and was beginning to be outworked by Singwangcha. During the end of the 6th round, Singwangcha appeared to have evened up the contest and was starting to take control of the fight.
However, both fighters appeared to be tiring due to the extreme heat in the arena. In an effort to re-energize/motive his fighter, Evangelista Cotto, trainer and uncle of both brothers, began throwing water in the face of Jose Cotto during the rest period of the 8th round, which really angered Jose as it turns out. Jose Cotto began arguing with his uncle/trainer and pushing him away.
The 9th round began with an angry Cotto trying to knock out Singwangcha. The Thai fighter, however, kept his cool and stuck to his game plan. When the 9th round ended, things went from bad to worst, when Jose Cotto refused to return to his corner and walked back and forth in the ring, looking furious. As the minute rest period ticked away, Cotto returned to his corner, only to be greeted by an extremely upset Uncle.
The fighter and trainer began arguing and getting physical with one another, provoking Miguel Cotto to jump onto to apron and grab his brother by the back of the neck, in an attempt to calm his brother down. With the commence of the 10th round, a confused Jose Cotto went into survival mode, while another fight was breaking out between Miguel Cotto and his uncle in the corner.
The cameras turned to the commotion outside of the ring and captured several people separating the uncle and nephew. As the 10th round ended, Evangelista Cotto called it a night and sat on the sidelines while Miguel Diaz took over with another assistant. By then, Jose Cotto was so mentally drained that I don’t think he even remembers the final two rounds in which he barely did anything other than survive to hear the final bell.
When the decision was announced, two of the judges gave Jose Cotto an early Christmas gift and scored it 114–114, while the other judge – seeming to get the score correct – scored it 117 – 111 for Singwangcha. Prawet Singwangcha, in my opinion, proved to be a very good fighter and hopefully gets another shot at a belt. As far as Jose Cotto goes, he made a very bad showing in the boxing ring. He has had several incidents going back to his amateur days and throughout his career and has at times showed what I consider to be a bad attitude. His actions were truly a disgrace, in my view, to all the fans that paid to watch the fight and to the sport of boxing.
The million dollar question is how will this affect Miguel Cotto, who has the most important fight of his career in less then a month from now. Does he stick with a trainer who has been with him since day one or does he change trainers? Will this family drama affect him negatively in the ring? The boxing world awaits the fallout from the Cotto’s Family Feud.