Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Gogue’s big fight preview

09/15/201612/01/2012 ESB

Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Gogue’s big fight preview By Joseph Herron, photo: Tom Casino / Showtime: Tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City, three division world champion Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) will challenge undefeated Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs) for his WBA Junior Middleweight Championship.

While the big event is nothing new to a proven fight veteran like the Puerto Rican favorite, the highly anticipated match-up will be Trout’s first trip to the big dance.

Expert trainer James Gogue, of “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap”, analyzes this terrific pairing, which is slated to air on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9PM EST/PST.

“First of all, every time Miguel Cotto fights at the Garden it always turns into a huge event,” states the 29 year veteran fight trainer. “Cotto is a legitimate star in boxing and his bouts aren’t just fights to his fans…they’re big time events.”

“I had the privilege of featuring one of my fighters on the undercard of the Cotto/Clottey bout in 2009, and over 22 thousand screaming Puerto Rican fans showed up to support their favorite fighter. It was a very festive atmosphere, but it can create a lot of problems for any young fighter if they’re not fully prepared to handle the pressures of performing on that level.”

Although it’s easy to notice the disparity in big fight experience between tonight’s competing fighters, the talented fight trainer does recognize the fight attributes of the current WBA Junior Middleweight Champ.

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Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout Analysis and Prediction

11/30/201211/29/2012 ESB

by Chip Mitchell & Robert Uzzell

Analysis of Showdown: Miguel “Junito” Cotto vs. Austin “No Doubt Trout” scheduled to take place December 1, 2012 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.

Tale of The Tape

Age: Miguel Cotto 32, Austin Trout 27
Current Status: Miguel Cotto – Challenger, Austin Trout – WBA Champion
Professional Record: Miguel Cotto – 37-3-0, 30 KOs, Austin Trout – 25-0-0, 14 KOs
Height: Miguel Cotto – 5 ft 7, Austin Trout 5 ft 9½
Reach: Miguel Cotto – 67 in, Austin Trout – 72 in
Knockout Percentage: Miguel Cotto – 75%, Austin Trout – 56%
Previous Fight: Cotto 05/05/2012, Trout 06/02/2012
Common Opponents: None of Note

Miguel “Junito” Cotto

The body snatcher returns! Miguel Cotto is the former WBA Super Welterweight (Light Middleweight) Champion. As stated in past analysis, Miguel embodies a fight-until-I-die brashness that has won him respect from fight fans and journalists. He’s a champion in the ring and win or lose, fans know that they always get their money and times worth of action.

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A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez’s plans

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be attending this Saturday’s fight between Miguel Cotto and WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of facing Cotto if he wins the fight. That’s the opponent that Alvarez badly wants, but he may not get him of Trout has something to say about it.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said this to RingTV about a Trout victory over Cotto: “I think we have to see what fashion in which Trout wins, and then we’ll make an assessment on it, and I will have to talk with Canelo.”

In other words, Alvarez may not fight Trout if he beats Cotto. I suspect that it doesn’t matter how good or bad Trout looks in the fight. If he beats Cotto, I don’t see Golden Boy allowing Alvarez to take the fight with Trout, because he’s all wrong for their young, flat-footed, easy to hit champion Alvarez. If you look at the types of fighters that they’ve been putting in with Alvarez – slow, older, stationary and smaller fighters – it’s clear that Trout is not the ideal opponent. In fact, Trout is the opposite of the types of guys that Golden Boy has fed to Alvarez, which is why I don’t see Trout getting the fight even if he destroys Cotto.

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Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decision

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

By Paul Grunich, photo by Robert Tibuni – WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) may be the champion as he enters his fight this Saturday night against former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s), but Trout is going to be fighting in front of pretty much mostly Cotto’s fans at the Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA.

What this means is that the fans will be cheering every punch that Cotto throws, even the ones where he misses his target. The judges will no doubt be influenced by the pro-Cotto fans, and this could lead to Trout losing a lot of rounds where he appears to win them. This could be big problem for Trout int his fight. He’s also starting off as the much less popular fighter of the two, and that’s a potential problem as well.

Cotto is the recognizable name, the star if you will, whereas Trout is just a young, slick fighter with a ton of athletic skills going for him. Think of Trout as the future of the junior middleweight division, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Even if Cotto wins this fight on Saturday, he’s not going to be fighting for too much longer because the competition is catching up to him, and he mainly wants to fight just the big names in the sport.

It’s surprising that he’s taking the Trout fight, because Trout isn’t well know. But the likely reason that Cotto is taking this fight is so that he can try and pick up a title, and then use that title to get a bigger cut of the financial pie in a unification bout against the WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in 2013. Cotto may need a title in his possession to get a bigger cut against Alvarez.

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Trout: I have to keep Cotto on the outside

09/15/201611/26/2012 ESB

By Paul Grunich: WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) isn’t taking any chances with the hard hitting Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) on Saturday night in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Trout plans on using his jab to keep the 32-year-old Cotto at a safe distance where he’s a lot less harmful. Trout doesn’t want to get in any wars with Cotto where he could get lucky and score a knockout from one of his big power shots.

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Pacquiao picks Cotto to beat Trout

09/14/201611/19/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: For what it’s worth, Manny Pacquiao sees Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) as coming out on top against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) on December 1st at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Pacquiao knows Cotto pretty well from having trounced him in a 12th round knockout back in 2009.

However, Pacquiao probably doesn’t have clue one about how good Trout is and at this point in Pacquiao’s career he would likely struggle badly and lose to a boxer/slugger like Trout. That would be a very tough fight for Pacquiao at any point in his career, especially now when he seems to have lost his ability to move and fight hard for three minutes of every round.

When asked who he thought would win the Cotto-Trout fight during Tuesday’s telephone conference with the press, Pacquiao said “I think Cotto will win the fight. Not sure by decision or knockout. Better chance for a knockout but not sure.”

It would be definitely good for Pacquiao if Cotto wins because Bob Arum has run out of big names to match him up against and he’s resorting to putting him in rematches. If Cotto loses this fight to Trout then that presumably takes away one of the biggest money fights that Pacquiao can get off the table.

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Cotto vs Trout: Cotto’s lack of size will hurt him against Trout

09/15/201610/31/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Boxing star Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has the experience going for him against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) but that might not be enough for Cotto to get the win when the two of them meet up on December 1st at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Cotto is dealing with youth, speed, size and just pure athleticism against Trout. I mean, let’s face it; Trout is the better athlete and you can see that just from watching one round of action from one of his fights.

Trout is the more skilled fighter and just looks natural. In contrast, Cotto looks like a fighter wearing a bad pair of shoes that are too small for him. It’s pretty painful to watch Cotto move around the ring, because he looks like he’s on a pair of pair of ice skates for the first time and isn’t really sure of his footwork. Trout isn’t someone that Cotto is going to be able to overpower like the guys he’s beaten in the past.

The problem Cotto will have is Trout’s defense and size. He doesn’t get hit a lot because he’s got such long arms and knows how to keep his opposition on the outside. And Cotto isn’t going to win this fight by jabbing Trout. Cotto may have a good jab, but he can’t win this fight with that weapon because Trout has a lot more than that in his arsenal. Cotto is going to be forced to take chances and it’s going to be difficult for him because of how elusive Trout is.

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Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Will Junito be in trouble on Dec 1st?

09/14/201610/06/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – With less than two months until the highly anticipated face-off between three division world champion Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) and Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs), many fight scribes and boxing fans are concerned that the Caguas warrior picked on the wrong Junior Middleweight title holder.

The current WBA Junior Middleweight Champ is quite certain the future Hall of Famer made a miscalculated decision in selecting him as an “opponent”.

“First of all, Miguel Cotto is a warrior who has never backed away from any challenge, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for him as one of the best representatives of the sport,” admits Austin Trout. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to fight him on December 1st at Madison Square Garden. But with that said…he messed up.”

“He shouldn’t have done it, because I’m going to win this fight. I honestly don’t see how I can lose against Miguel Cotto.”

Although the Las Cruces, New Mexico resident is always confident before a big fight, Austin seems eerily self-assured that he will indeed be successful on December 1st.

“Without taking anything away from Miguel Cotto, I just feel that I will be the faster, stronger, taller, and better technical fighter on fight night. I believe that I have better attributes on many different levels. I know he is a very good puncher and a smart fighter with a lot of experience in the ring, but he’s also 5’7” with a short reach.”

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Trout: I don’t want to hear any excuses after I beat Cotto

09/14/201609/04/2012 ESB

By Dwight Chittenden: Unbeaten WBA World light middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) doesn’t want to hear a bunch of complaining or excuse-making from former WBA Super World light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) after he beats him on December 1st in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Trout, 26, plans on beating the 31-year-old Cotto in a convincing enough manner to where Cotto’s boxing fans and fans in general won’t be able to question his victory.

Trout said to RingTV “I can shock everybody. It’s the perfect scenario for me. I love this fight, man. He [Cotto] just had one where he stopped Antonio Margarito, and he just had the decision loss to Floyd. So I don’t want to hear any excuses when I beat Migel Cotto, you know what I mean?”

Trout, 26, is going to have to fight a lot better than he did last June in defeating junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez by a 12 round unanimous decision. The judges didn’t give Rodriguez much credit for giving Trout a lot of problems in this fight. I personally had the scores a lot closer than the ones that were handed down. But worrisome thing about the fight was that the southpaw Trout was hit by a lot lead right hands and jabs from Rodriguez and if Trout fights the same way against Cotto, he’s going to get beaten up.

Cotto hits too hard wight his right hand, and his jab is too powerful for Trout to be getting hit all night long with those shots. Cotto also has an excellent left hook that will cause Trout problems.

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Austin Trout: “Cotto is a future Hall of Famer, but this is my time now”

09/14/201609/02/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron: It’s Official! On December 1st, three division world champion and future Hall of Famer Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) will take on current WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs) at the world renowned Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.

When most boxing insiders didn’t believe Austin would ever get the opportunity to showcase his skills on the biggest stage of boxing, the Las Cruces, New Mexico resident always had faith that his time would eventually come.

“I’ve definitely paid my dues,” claims the 26 year old southpaw fighter. “But I really have to thank Al Haymon for this big fight. He told me that he was working on something big, and he really delivered.”

The big 154 pound title fight will easily be Austin’s toughest test to date. Not only will the young chameleon be facing a three division warrior who can box and punch proficiently, but the reigning title holder will also be fighting in the hostile confines of Cotto’s venue of choice; Madison Square Garden.

Austin believes the pro-Cotto crowd won’t be a problem.

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