MIGUEL COTTO'S DANGEROUS FUTURE

March 3, 2006 - by Ron Borges

Miguel Cotto is a young man in waiting, two concepts that have a hard time co-existing. Cotto is undefeated and already the World Boxing Organization junior welterweight champion but that is not where the money is. Not the real money any way. Neither does it come in fights like Saturday night's with light-hitting Gianluca Branco in Puerto Rico, a fight that will be preceded on HBO by a replay of last weekend's Shane Mosley-Fernando Vargas showdown in Las Vegas that ended with the fight being stopped as Vargas was pressing the man whose hand the referee was about to raise in victory. So it goes in 21st Century boxing, where fights are stopped in a way that would have precluded us from every hearing of someone as tough as Carmen Basilio or Jake LaMotta.

But we digress. Saturday is a keep busy night, a chance for Cotto to improve his record from 25-0 and earn a payday against an opponent who is two important things in the professional opinion of Cotto's handlers - persistent and light-hitting. Although Branco is 36-1-1, only 19 of those victories have come short of the distance. With Cotto's chin having been challenged a bit too much for the comfort of the people around him in recent outings against Demarcus Corley and Ricardo Torres, opponents like Branco or a proposed June 10 dance partner, slippery but slap-happy Paulie Malignaggi, are made to order because they will be guys who make Cotto fight but not guys likely to shut off his lights.

Part of Cotto's appeal is his apparent Achilles heel, which in his case would actually be his China chin. Guys who try to fight the way Cotto does - which is with bad intentions from the first bell to the last - tend to get hit. When they also have a chin marked "Fragile: Handle with Care'' it makes for a compelling storyline. In the end, that is part of what will make Cotto a box office hit as well. The other is that he hits like a mule when he lands before you do. Or after you do for that matter.

In the end, Cotto knows, risk must be taken if he hopes to elevate himself into the mix of highly-regarded fighters in the 140-to-147 pound weight classes. It will be against the likes of Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather, Antonio Margarito, Arturo Gatti, Shane Mosley, Jose Luis Castillo and perhaps one day his fellow Puerto Rican Kermit Cintron that Cotto will make his bones and his reputation, not to mention his money. But until that time he must do what young men often find most difficult. He must remain patient and vigilant.

"The opponents are going to come,'' Cotto said. "I don't choose the opponents. All I know is that I get ready to prepare myself to fight. That's my job. I know that the big fights are coming.''

Yet having said that, Cotto also admits he may not last much longer in the 140-pound division even though there are some potentially lucrative matches there with Hatton, Castillo and perhaps even Diego Corrales if he wanted to move up from lightweight as Castillo seems inclined to do.

Cotto's promoter, Bob Arum, is desperately trying to keep Cotto at 140 both because those fights are there for him and because with Mayweather just beginning to move into the welterweight division himself Arum is better off having a top fighter in each weight class than putting them in a situation where they are vying for the same opponents and hence the same dollars.

"I think we're jumping so far ahead,'' said Todd DuBoef, Top Rank's president and Arum's step son. "I'm trying to keep him at 140 a little bit. We've got some great fights at 140. There is not one fighter in Miguel Cotto's weight class who has fought the opposition that he has fought at that weight class. At 140. There is not, and you can look at everybody's record. No one has fought who he's fought at the weight class and we have believed in him from the beginning and he's delivered. Obviously, when we go out there and start campaigning at 147 he's going to go after everybody there. Whoever the 147 pound champions who are there and make sense we'll line them up and go after them.''

Ultimately that figures to be the case but for now there is still money to be made at 140 and by the fall Cotto should be in line to make it. Arum has a promotional relationship with Castillo that could facilitate a fight there and Hatton's new American promoter, Art Pellulo, has always been willing to do business with everyone in boxing if the money is right so a unification fight between Cotto and Hatton, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBU versions of the title at 140, might be more easily made than is often the case in such situations.

The problem with Hatton or Castillo is that they can punch, something Cotto's chin might not appreciate. Still and all, it is that aura of mystery, that sense that Cotto is always at risk in the ring even as he's destroying 25 straight opponents, that makes those fights alluring box office and Arum understands that from his promotional experiences with Thomas Hearns, the flawed but heroic figure of 1980s' losing battles with Marvin Hagler and Ray Leonard. Know one knows what end Cotto would come out on in such big fights and that's part of the appeal because it is mystery, as well as domination, that fuel the interest of the public.

The same would hold true for him when he finally moves to the welterweight division. It is difficult to imagine a way he beats Mayweather, but then again it's difficult to imagine a way anyone beats Mayweather at the moment unless he gets hit a blind shot on the chin. But if he does and it's delivered by Cotto, it's the end of the Baby Face side of Floyd, hence mystery rules.

Same might be true against the other stop welterweights and a showdown between Cotto and Gatti would pack any house in the country because there would be no mystery there - someone is going to get knocked out.

Naturally Cotto is anxious for this process to begin. When you have knocked out 21 of the 25 men you've beaten and never tasted defeat the fact that you've been badly hurt once or twice lately doesn't really mean a thing. It may have the blood pressure of your fans and business partners elevated but you remain placid on the issue because, like Felix Trinidad before him, Miguel Cotto knows being down is not the important thing.

Getting up is the important thing.

He has been down and he has been badly hurt, especially in the Corley fight, but he's always not only gotten up but returned fire in a way that ended the night the right way. So when it comes to chin questions, Cotto has the answers even when he intends to ask the mandible questions.

"You go out there you know you're going to get hit so obviously I've been hit a few times the last couple of fights but I came right back and showed them what I can do when I'm hurt,'' Cotto said, a hint of arrogance and displeasure lacing his voice. "I think that's good being able not only to land some shots but to be able to prove I can take some shots too.''

To get where Miguel Cotto wants to go he eventually will very likely have to take some heavy shots from Hatton or Mayweather or Castillo or maybe even WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, who just stopped Manuel Gomez in one round to successfully defend his title. But first Cotto has to be sure he doesn't get ahead of himself. He has to be sure he takes care of his business with Branco on Saturday night and then very likely Malignaggi in June because while they may not be able to hurt him they could derail him if he is ill-prepared.

That, more than his chin, is the danger in fights like these but that, too, is part of the fascination of Miguel Cotto, a star on the rise who always seems not too far from twinkling his last bright light. That can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how he handles the fragilities of his own existence but either way it's box office.