“Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag”: Chavez Jr. at 168, Cotto’s Last Dance? & Khan’s Pursuit of Mayweather!!!

floyd7773Marco G. (Miami Lakes, FL): I’m a Chavez Jr. fan, but I was totally disgusted with the outcome of the fight! I’m beyond entertaining the thought of what our sport can do to fix this criminal activity. But I would like to know how you think he will perform at 168lbs?

Vivek W. (ESB): I think the pending move to 168lbs will demonstrate that it’s both a curse and a blessing, as all positive effects of this move will be nullified by the reality it brings. When we look at his past fights, Chavez Jr. has shown what some view to be a “very good chin”. But few stop to actually question whether or not this has anything to do with the fact that he’s taking shots from men who are naturally much smaller.

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Roach sees body-punching as key for Cotto beating Delvin Rodriguez

cotto123Miguel Cotto’s new trainer Freddie Roach is bringing the 32-year-old Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) back to the basics to beat #4 WBA, #9 WBO, #11 WBC, Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KO’s) on October 5th at the Amway Center, in Orlando, Florida, USA. Roach thinks that if only Cotto starts throwing more body shots, it’ll enable him to get past Rodriguez and start winning more of his fights.

The truth is Cotto can probably easily beat Rodriguez even if chooses not to throw one body shot the entire. Rodriguez is not on Cotto’s level, and he’s pretty much just the sacrificial lamb being brought in to end Cotto’s 2-fight losing streak. The worry here is that if Cotto can’t even beat Rodriguez or can’t beat him in a convincing manner, then Cotto and Roach are going to have to face some hard truths about where he can go from here.

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Miguel Cotto / Freddie Roach Interview Transcript

cotto34Former three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, is in his final weeks of training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. Cotto is preparing for his 12-round super welterweight battle with Top-10 contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic. Cotto vs. Rodriguez will take place Saturday, October 5, at the home of the Orlando Magic, Amway Center, in Orlando, Fla. Cotto’s Florida debut will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.

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Delvin Rodriguez “very motivated” For Miguel Cotto

861by Lem Satterfield – Puerto Rican three-division title winner Miguel Cotto will face top rated contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez on Oct. 5, LIVE on HBO at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., site of today’s open-to-the-public press conference announcing the event.

“I’m feeling great,” said Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), who is 33. “I’m excited. This is a great opportunity. This is an opportunity that I’m going to take full advantage of. I’m ready for the work. I’ve already started training, and I’m very, very motivated. I think that Cotto is a warrior, and he’s going to pretty much be coming forward”.

“I don’t think that I’m going to have to go looking for Cotto. It’s going to make it a great fight and a war, and that’s easier for me. People are probably going to expect me to be running around, concentrating on my defense, which is the opposite of what I’m going to do. I believe that Cotto is very effective when he takes an opponent to the ropes, but I’m going to keep him in the middle of the ring.”

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How Much “Boxing” Is Still Remaining In Miguel Cotto

cotto245Miguel Cotto never lacked the ability to bring entertaining to anyone watching his fights, and he did it all inside the ring. While he was a calm and professional gentleman outside of the ring, quiet and respectful during press conferences and weigh-ins, he was a relentless warrior once the ring bell rang.

What’s even more interesting is that every one of his opponents seemed to carry a tremendous amount of respect for him, praising and labeling him a true champion. I don’t remember the last time I have heard anything negative or aggressive being said about Cotto. He is a rare breed.

While there is a common belief that Cotto is no long the fighter he was, making that case is no walk in the park. Aside from losing to Austin Trout (which surprised me), his other three losses come by way of Antonio Margarito (I think that most would agree that this should not count), Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather/Silva, Canelo, Matthysse vs Garcia, & Cotto/Roach!!!!

Mayweather(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Carlos H. (San Francisco, CA): On your FaceBook account you stated that Mayweather should “closely analyze” the defeat of Anderson Silva as he prepares for his bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Explain that statement, as I don’t agree.

Vivek W. (ESB): I think too much has been made of my response to this question. My point was that you don’t just wake up one day and receive the consensus vote as one of, if not thee best of all-time in your craft.

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Cotto to be trained by Freddie Roach for Oct 5th comeback; Delvin Rodriguez likely opponent

cotto03Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) will be trained by Freddie Roach when he returns to the ring in a comeback on October 5th. According to ESPN, Delvin Rodriguez is the possible opponent for the 32-year-old Cotto, and HBO will be televising it.

Cotto vs. Rodriguez isn’t exactly an HBO type of main event fight, but hopefully the fight will be packaged with a good undercard, because as it is the fight is a mismatch. Rodriguez has already been beaten by Austin Trout, Ashley Theophane, Rafal Jackiewicz, Jesse Feliciano, Andre Eason, and Isaac Hlatshwayo.

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Sergio Martinez mentions Miguel Cotto As a Possible Future Opponent

martinez44While Google Translate didn’t do that great of a job translating a website form Spanish to English for me, the plot of the article was clear with one of the quotes by Sergio Martinez:

“One of the possible future opponents may be the Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto,” Martinez said to diariouno.com.ar. If you are not excited about the possibility of this fight taking place, well you should be. While I see Martinez as more of a technical fighter than Cotto, Miguel is the type of fighter who will not make too many mistakes in a fight.

It has been a while since Martinez impressed his fans in a memorable fight, with a knockout or at least an action packed fight. His fight against Chavez Jr. was a great demonstration of skill, but to this day I believe that Jr. wasn’t ready for that fight, and was a very successfully handpicked opponent.

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Cotto undecided on September 28th date

cotto34Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) is still trying to decide whether he’ll be fighting on September 28th or another date this year for his next fight, according to RingTV. Golden Boy Promotions booked the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for September 28th, hoping that Cotto will choose to fight on that date, but he’s still undecided.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said to RingTV “Miguel hasn’t decided I he is going to fight on that date [September 28th] or before or after. We’re working on that option.”

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GBP setting aside September 28th at Barclays for Cotto

cotto8Golden Boy Promotions is setting aside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on September 28th for a possible Miguel Cotto fight, according to Steve Kim. This is potentially bad news for WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez because Cotto is the backup plan for him if Golden Boy can’t negotiate a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. for September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If Golden Boy strikes out with Mayweather, then they won’t eve have Cotto for Canelo. With Mayweather and Cotto out for Canelo, he’d then likely be matched up with the Golden Boy promoted Alfredo Angulo or Erislandy Lara.

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