by James Slater – I think it’s fair to say, that unless he is made of even sterner stuff than his bravery this past Saturday showed him to be cast from, Miguel Cotto will never be the same fighter after what Manny Pacquiao did to him in Las Vegas. Taking a monstrous and prolonged beating that finally came to an end when referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the 12th-round, Cotto looked like he’d been though hell after the loss, which, of course, he had.
The question now is, will the 29-year-old who has only been beaten twice as a pro, ever fight again? The beating the amazingly brave Puerto Rican took on Saturday was the type of hiding that ruins a fighter.. Worse than the hammering he took from Antonio Margarito last year, the Pacquiao loss could well have knocked all the remaining fight out of Cotto. Marked up worse than ever before and looking a sorry state, Cotto would be entitled to call it a career if he so chose.
Putting the physical toll the two-knockdown beating took on him aside for a minute, there is the mental damage and the removing of confidence the loss took out of Cotto. This will also be extremely hard to deal with. A fighter with fierce pride, Cotto will not want to continue fighting against second-rate fighters simply to pick up a pay cheque. But after the savage beating he took inside The MGM Grand, are there any top level fighters he can be expected to be able to defeat if he does decide to box on?
It will likely be a good number of months before Cotto even begins to think about looking ahead towards his boxing future, very possibly a year or so. But even long after the aches and pains have gone and after the cuts have healed, Cotto will not know what he has left to offer. Sparring and training can only give a fighter a clue as to how his tools have faired after he’s taken a brutal defeat. Only if and when Miguel gets back in the ring with a good fighter will he know for sure if he’s shot or not.
But is the possible risk involved with finding out worth it? It would be sad to see Cotto fighting on when a badly faded force, and it would be even sadder to see him losing to guys who wouldn’t have been fit to lace his boots in his prime years. I think Cotto has done enough for the sport he excelled in, and if he’s in a financial position to be able to do so, he should lock his gloves away for good and never even think about fighting again.
A great fighter who won world titles at two weights and who has to his name wins over some superb, almost certain future Hall of Fame fighters, Cotto can rest assured he has his place in history. A future Hall of Famer himself, “Junito,” in his 36 pro fights, has achieved far more than a good number of his fellow prize fighters ever will.
Of course, it’s Cotto’s decision, but I can’t see any way in which he can fight on and expect to have much chance of ever becoming a world champion again. And as proud as he is, why else would Cotto want to box on? A world champion from 2004 to 2008 and then again from early 2009 until this past Saturday, Miguel has done all anyone can ask of him.