The Yuri Foreman-Miguel Cotto fight was bizarre for the way it ended and even weirder the way sports writers gave their account of the match. I thought that Foreman, the former junior middleweight champ, was leading on all scorecards (in a fight that wasn't a classic or great one) until he slipped in the seventh round and hurt his knee. I guess I saw it differently coz the judges had Cotto leading on all scorecards. How was the possible? It was him getting rocked. if ever, he only took Round One and the latter ones after the former champ hurt himself.
The Associated Press and ESPN's Dan Rafael crowed about how great Miguel Cotto looked and boxed. He did. Only after Foreman's unfortunate injury that totally killed his mobility. He was a sitting duck and Cotto knew it. The Puerto Rican redoubled his efforts and his punches began to find their mark.
I thought that Foreman was splendid and showed a willingness to mix it up and take some chances. During a clinch he was always quick to exploit openings although I guess he found out that Cotto is a hard man to put down. Cotto surely threw some haymakers in there and I think Foreman even lost his mouthpiece at one point but the fight was going the champ's way.
Until that slippage. Curiously, not one of the reports mentioned anything about Foreman's constant slipping. If you watch the fight closely again, you will also notice referee Arthur Mercante Jr. almost lose his footing as well.
Of course, that is hardly Cotto's fault and the title is surely his now. But this is one fight that deserves a rematch. The pace totally changed after that slip. One thing is for certain though Cotto has a problem with mobile and quick punching fighters.
So why are the write ups that way? Simple. His handlers are already packaging him for his next fight and a huge pay day.
And oh, ABS CBN, next time choose better fight commentators. There were times when I thought I was watching a Manny Pacquiao fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment