Cotto stops a defiant Mayorga in 12 rounds

The result of last Saturday's clash between Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga was expected by many but the way it went down was not. What was expected to be a short entertaining firefight between a skilled but vulnerable champion and an unskilled, faded loud mouth turned out to be a true battle for the WBA junior middleweight belt. Although Cotto won the majority of the rounds make no mistake about it, the belt was in jeopardy and Mayorga's powerpunches kept Cotto in harm's way in every round. It was a rejuvenated Mayorga, who looked better than he has in years that showed up in Las Vegas bringing along his usual bravado and array of power punches thrown from every angle. It was said that he trained very hard during camp and his trainer worked on getting him to shorten his punches and it showed during the fight as he looked to be in fighting shape and there was a bit more sharpness to his usual wild swings. Mayorga actually launched some nifty combinations and bodywork in an honest attempt to rip the belt away from the champion.

It took nothing less than Cotto's A game to repel this challenge and that was exactly what the champion was able to offer in this fight. Cotto brilliantly executed his game plan of sticking and moving, piling up points with his precise jabs, left hooks, and body punches all the while resisting to engage in the brawl that Mayorga desperately sought to have a chance to land his home run punch. Mayorga displayed his iron chin during the fight as he soaked up a lot left hooks and some solid rights thrown with Cotto's newly surgically reconstructed right shoulder.

The first three rounds were tight with Cotto having gained the lead on the judges cards on the basis of landing more punches with Mayorga close behind. Each round was laced with danger as both men attempted to knock each other's blocks off, each punch thrown with bad intentions despite the opinion of one 'Iron' Mike Tyson who was not impressed when asked by SHOWTIME's roaming reporter Jim Gray. The fourth round was won by Mayorga as he stepped up the pressure and forced Cotto to retreat after landing some attention grabbing uppercuts. The challenger was beginning to cement his challenge as a serious bid for victory in this round and Cotto was put on notice to stick to his game plan and put pressure of his own in the following rounds.

The middle rounds saw a decrease in the output of Mayorga has he began to fight in spurts as his body began to let him know that he know longer was the wildman of his youth, meanwhile the younger champion maintained his steady offerings of jabs, hooks, and body blows that would continue to win him rounds. Mayorga came back to life in the seventh round and had his best chance in the tenth round when he stunned Cotto with a chopping right that had the champion reeling and looking to escape danger. The champ survived Mayorga's onslaught and reasserted himself in the eleventh.

Going into the last round Mayorga's corner told him that he needed a knockout in order to win the fight and Mayorga came out determined to make his final stand. Cotto was equal to the task and to his credit was willing to engage Mayorga in the brawl that he so craved like the fighting champion that he is. With both men unloading their guns, Cotto landed a left hook flush to the jaw of Mayorga as he threw a shot of his own that sent him to one knee holding on to his left hand in pain. The referee, Robert Byrd, correctly ruled it a knockdown and began the count. Mayorga beat the count and attempted to fire back but moments later retreated to a corner and with body language indicated to the ref that he could not continue and the official ruled it so giving the champion the victory by stoppage.

Cotto improved to 36-2 with 29 knockouts while Mayorga fell to 29-8-1. After the fight Mayorga explained that he fell to his knees not from the hook that crashed on his jaw but because of an injury suffered to his left hand, which was later revealed to be a dislocated thumb; "I hate the way this fight ended. I tried to finish the final round but the pain in my hand was too much." He then gave credit to Cotto calling him a great champion and thanked him for the opportunity at his belt and asking his forgiveness for all the pre-fight taunting which he explained that he did to promote the fight. He also announced his retirement from boxing.

Cotto commented; "The game plan was to not get caught up in any of his antics. He was very heavy handed, I felt his punches the whole fight.It was a good fight with an amazing finish."

The Miguel Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga fight will be rebroadcast this Saturday night on SHOWTIME before the Lucian Bute-Brian Maghee main event.

With the win Cotto's next opponent appears to be Antonio Margarito in a rematch of their fight in which Margarito stopped Cotto, a result that became clouded in doubt the moment Margarito was caught with loaded fists before his fight with Shane Mosley. Cotto has said in the past that he was opposed to having Margarito make any money off of a rematch with him due to his suspicions of having been hit with loaded gloves himself. He has since backed off those comments and appears open to the possibility for a rematch. His disdain for the man remains apparent as he refused to shake hands with the Mexican who was called onto the podium during the post fight press conference. If looks could kill Margarito would have been slain over and over again by the glare given to him by Cotto while he addressed the press.

A quick assessment of Cotto's second fight at junior middleweight shows a fighter that is becoming more comfortable with the weight and his trainer Emanuel Steward. In Cotto's first fight at the weight he fought a taller, rangier fighter in Yuri Foreman who had the ability to use his reach and mobility to rack up a points win but lacked the power to test his punch resistance at that weight. He was able to follow his new trainer's game plan to take away the taller man's reach by working his jab in effectively and allowing his won power punches to get in there and do the rest. In his second fight he showed a good chin by withstanding some blistering blows from a bigger man and the ability to wriggle out of danger when in trouble. He also showed his complete faith in the Steward game plan by remaining disciplined enough to follow it in the face of the storm. It paid off in the form of a knockout win. I initially had my doubts about Cotto at junior middleweight but I now see him as a formidable force at that weight class with the ability to rule their as long as he avoids Sergio Martinez. That fight would probably be his undoing at that weight class although I wouldn't count out this brave champion completely.

Speaking of Sergio Martinez......

Sergio Martinez dominates Sergiy Dzinziruk

Last Saturday was one of those nights in which boxing shoots itself in the foot by putting on competing boxing cards. On the night that two of the more popular fighters in the sport are set to fight (Cotto/Mayorga), HBO decides its a good time to showcase the undisputed middleweight champion of the world Sergio Martinez. This is not good for boxing as Martinez is one of the hidden gems in the game and needs to be discovered by the masses and you don't do that by pitting his fight against a pay per view that features two already known commodities that are known to draw fans. And on top of it all, HBO sets up Martinez in a good match up against an undefeated legit menace from Europe in Dzinziruk who happens to be the WBO junior middleweight champ (that belt was not on the line). This is a fight that begged to be seen but forced boxing fans to choose sides. With the constant wait between solid fights there are plenty of dates that could have been chosen for these fights, HBO and SHOWTIME there is no need for this!

Back to the fight itself. Martinez's handlers were very vocal about their opposition to facing Dzinziruk whom was forced on them by HBO. They were wary about everything from the man being a champ, to his southpaw style, to his unbeaten record and his status as an unknown commodity. But being the cool level headed customer that he is, the middleweight champ calmed his managers and accepted the assignment, looking at it as a puzzle to solve.

It was a joy to watch Martinez go to work on figuring out Dzinziruk, bouncing in and out potshotting his man. You could see the challenger trying to keep up and the difficulty in figuring out the moving target in front of him. Martinez finally got to his man in the fourth forcing the challenger from the Ukraine to a knee after connecting with what appeared to be the lightest of punches to the top of his head. Dzinziruk argued vehemently that it was a slip but the ref ruled it a knockdown and the Ukrainian proceeded to follow downward spiral for the rest of the fight.

At the end of the fifth round the challenger was downed by a left hand seconds before the bell and got up smiling but shaken. The man from Argentina would knock down his foe for the third time in the eight round prompting the referee to call a halt to the bout at 1:43 of the eight round.

Dzinziruk suffered his first loss in 38 fights while Martinez improved to 47-2-2 with 26 KOs. The 2010 Fighter of the Year would then call out everyone from Mayweather to Pacquiao after the fight. At this rate Martinez who is firmly entrenched among the top three best pound for pound fighters in the world is poised to take over the top spot if he keeps taking on and defeating top quality opposition.

The Undercards

Two noteworthy fights on the undercards of both of the above mentioned cards that I would like to talk about. First on the Cotto-Mayorga undercard, Yuri Foreman staged his comeback fight against Pawel Wolak a brawler from Chicago with one loss on his record. Foreman was attempting to get back on the winning track following his loss to Cotto last year in which he suffered a knee injury but instead would suffer a devastating loss in which his corner had to intervene to stop the fight in which he suffered a sustained beating for six rounds. Although medically cleared to fight, it was obvious that his old movement may have left him following his leg injury as he was unable to use his legs to great effect and was forced to fight in the danger zone.

Wolak (29-1) who suffered major swelling and bruising to the face as testament that Foreman did fight back, was able to put constant pressure on Foreman which forced to him to stand and trade. This worked perfectly into Wolak's hands and he was able to impose his type of fight which ultimately put him the winner's circle. When asked after the fight about his future in boxing, Foreman (28-2) responded that he would rest before deciding his future in the sport.

There was a fire fight on the HBO undercard dubbed 'the Celtic War' pitting Ireland's once beaten Andy Lee against Scotland's undefeated Craig McEwan. The fight was scheduled for ten rounds and was an entertaining battle throughout. Andy Lee was one of these fighters that I had heard stories about early in his career. He was touted as the future of the middleweight division, the next knockout machine out of the famed Kronk gym that produced Thomas Hearns and the first left handed heavyweight champ Michael Moorer. But each time I saw him in action he simply failed to impress as he was knocked out on a fight on ESPN and would win in less than scintillating fashion in another televised bout. The only impression he seemed to make on me is that the longer his fights go, the more he starts to resemble actor and former New Kid On the Block member Donnie Wahlberg.

So it didn't surprise me any to see him lose control of this fight early on as McEwan put it on him with a mix of hooks and solid rights thrown fast and heavy. Lee appeared for the most part content to set traps for McEwan to walk into and had a few of those traps succeed but never enough to win him rounds. He also had an annoying tendency to keep his guard down all but inviting punches which McEwan had no problems delivering. McEwan dominated the first half of this fight until Lee began to wake up by the sixth round and finally decided to start throwing back with greater frequency.

Down in the fight Lee broke through in the ninth round, clearly hurting McEwan who had to hold on to survive the round. Seemingly needing a knockout to win the fight, Lee who at this point resembled the freakishly ragged version of Donnie Wahlberg from the movie 'The Sixth Sense', did not appear to have the energy to get the coveted come from behind knock out he needed but plugged on until......it happened. As if to justify past praises heaped on the man, the Gods of boxing bestowed upon Lee the hammer of Thor in the form of his left hand that came booming down on McEwan forcing him to a knee and then onto his back at which point the ref stopped the fight. Lee had won the 'Celtic War' in dramatic fashion proving himself worthy of the attention of the boxing public. The man may never become champion, but he is not without skill, not without heart, and definitely not without the power to change his destiny. I love these exhilarating endings.

Filipino rising

In covering the Sergio Martinez fight in the earlier segment, I mentioned the top three pound for pound fighters in the world. Martinez is one of them, he is number three. Then there is one and two being Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. respectively. But there is another Filipino fighter creeping up and threatening to overtake the spot of any of these three fighters, and that fighter is 'The Filipino Flash' Nonito Donaire.

This unassuming, lanky, school boy looking kid is actually very lethal. He is an undefeated bantamweight who has the height, skill, and power to rise up the weight classes like his idol Manny Pacquiao who he has publicly sworn never to fight. The boxing world first took notice of this dynamo when he was scheduled to fight the dangerous 'Raging Bull' Vic Darchinyan in 2007 who was rampaging thru the smaller weights. Darchinyan had previously savaged Nonito's older brother Glenn Donaire and the younger brother promised to avenge that loss. At the time no one took his vow of vengeance seriously because Darchinyan was such a little wrecking ball that nothing seemed to stop him. Until he ran into the Filipino Flash that is. Donaire took five rounds to figure out Darchinyan's crab like fighting stance and set him up to run into a left hook that he did not see coming and sent the Armenian superman crashing back down to earth.

That spectacular knockout win over Darchinyan started a run of quality knockout wins over quality opponents that made everyone take notice of the mix of speed, skill and power displayed by Donaire that saw him rise up the rankings of the top fighters of the world as he collected wins, scalps, and title belts. It has been 11 years since he has tasted defeat and along the way he has faced and beaten every fighting style imaginable, facing off against prospects, veterans, speedsters, powerpunchers, champions and former champions.

This all led up to his first super fight this February against WBC & WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel of Mexico who was on an amazing run of his own. Montiel was a solid champion who faced off against the best boxers of the lower weight classes. This was called an even fight by the odds makers going in and had the air of mystery attached to it as you honestly did not know what would happen once the bell rang. It was the immovable object versus the irresistable force.

When the bell rang the height and reach advantages for Donaire were plain to see, but what was alarming was the speed which the Filipino enjoyed over his Mexican rival. He was literally operating like a Flash of light going in, out and around Montiel without necesarrilly landing much but landing hard when he did. From the onset it looked like it would be a tough assignment for the champ.

In the second round Montiel appeared to close the gap, getting his left hook close enough to land a few shots to the body and to the head of the challenger. Donaire began to back up and look for more space to operate as Montiel closed in. It started to happen, the veteran champ was making the adjustments that an experience pro makes when faced with adversity, he was applying the pressure, he was taking it to the challenger....it was an illusion. Donaire set up an exchange with Montiel in which he fired a left hook that exploded on the jaw of the soon to be ex champion and produced a highlight reel knockdown that saw Montiel flopping on the floor desperately trying to regain his senses looking like a fish out of water.

To his credit Montiel beat the count at nine but had to be saved from Donaire's follow up barrage as 'The Filipino Flash' recorded a 2nd round TKO to become the undisputed champion of the bantamweights. One thing that will definitely help Donaire gain fans in the states is that he is a Filipino-American, he speaks english perfectly having been raised in the USA and he is a very clever guy who comes off likeable in his interviews. Plus he is quoteable as proven by his in-ring interview after the fight with HBO commentator Max Kellerman who asked him how he was able to knock out Montiel just as the Mexican had gotten into his rythmn. Donaire's reply was priceless; "The rythmn was given to him. I had to study him to see where his head was going to be for the knockout." When asked by Kellerman if he was operating in the Matrix like the similairly titled movie, Donaire responded; "Yes I'm in the Matrix. Guys think I'm crazy when I say this, but things slow down for me in the ring and I can see everything in slow motion."

Awesome.

This guy is going to be a star. His combination of speed, skill, power with a frame that can support a climb up in weights point to a bright future. The boxing fanatic's mind drools at the prospect of fights that might be made on his path to greatness. There is the winner of SHOWTIME'S Bantamweight tournament (Abner Mares or Joseph Agbeko), a few pounds away you have the dynamic duo of Yuorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez, veteran featherweight champ Chris John, a raid of the lightweights before entering the junior welterweights where he will find Amir Khan, Tim Bradley, and Marcus Maidana and then dare we dream Floyd Mayweather Jr. who might find Donaire too small to resist?

The Blackeyed View's TV Recommendation

This mention is way overdue but better late than never. From the FX Channel which has produced a steady stream of awesome dramatic television from such as The Shield, Damages, Sons of Anarchy and Justified to name a few, comes a new series which spotlights boxing called Lights Out. Its the story about retired heavyweight champion Patrick 'Lights' Leary who five years into his retirement is faced with the prospect of having to make a come back when his family is threatened by the loss of his career earnings thru the mismanagement of his well meaning but irresponsible younger brother Johnny.

This show refuses to pigeon hole itself in previously explored boxing territory and instead focuses on telling a story using fully developed characters that you will care about as any good drama would. As a boxing fan you will enjoy seeing what goes into building or in this case rebuilding a championship fighter, you will rage at getting a glimpse of the back door dealings between managers and promoters, and be surprised at the complex relationships between rivals. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is the interactions between the Leary and his nemesis Death Row Reynolds who won the last fight of Leary's career. Its an angle that is seldom explored in boxing movies or tv shows.

Fans of past HBO tv shows the Wire and Oz will recognize some actors on this show. The cast is solid headed by its leading man Holt McCallany who has committed himself body and soul into the role of Lights Leary getting himself in tremendous shape and using all the experience of a 20 year career in film to flesh out a character we can all get behind. Veteran actor Stacy Keach plays Leary's trainer and father with great depth as he potrays a veteran fighter/trainer who has his rough edges but is at the same time a tender father and grandfather when situation is required or brought out of him. Catherin McCormack plays Light's wife which is his rock and Pablo Schrieber as Johnny the brother that is both the bane of his existence and the part of his life he can't live without.

The best way to describe this show is to take Rocky, add three parts Sopranos, mix in some of The Wire and a touch of The Sheild and you get Lights Out. Just when you know where its going the show throws you a new twist. Here is a sample of some of its plotlines; the comeback of a 40 year old athlete, the underworld boss who takes an interest in Leary's comeback and makes himself necessarry and what will be the eventual consequences of this, the crazy boxing guru trainer, the as of yet unexplained reason that caused Leary to lose to Death Row Reynolds when he had him ready for the KO in the last seconds of the fight, sex, drugs, pugilistic dementia corruption and redemption. Its just to much to name in one segment about this show.

It is beyond worth watching if you are a boxing fan and a must see if you are a fan of dramatic, gritty television. It airs Tuesday nights at ten on FX. To catch up on all the episodes go to fxnetworks.com where you can see all their episodes.

FIGHTS THIS WEEKEND

This Saturday March 19th live on SHOWTIME Super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute fights against Brian MaGee. The replay of Cotto-Mayorga will be replayed before this fight.

Vitaly Klitschko defense of the WBC heavyweight belt against Cuban Odalnier Solis will be broadcast by EPIX and will be shown live on the huge teleprompter on Times Square at 6PM.