by David P. Greisman - NEW YORK ?There were more than 21,000 people in Madison Square Garden, and few of them were prepared to say goodbye.
Most of them were there to see Miguel Cotto, to support their champion who had represented the island of Puerto Rico, home to some, homeland for the rest, in the 2000 Olympics; who had come up as a young professional prizefighter at a time when the career of their charismatic icon, Felix “Tito?Trinidad, was nearing its end.
They were there to support a fighter who, like Tito, thrust left hooks into the liver and ribs of his opponents as if his glove were a shovel breaking the earth and making it crumble beneath him.
He had brought them triumphs, with the world title reigns at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight. He brought them out by the thousands and tens of thousands, fans who would chant his name at arenas in Puerto Rico named for athletic legends and famed figures, in storied venues in New York City and New Jersey, and in casinos in the American boxing capital of Las Vegas.
They lived vicariously through his victories, be they battles or slaughters, and they were desolate following his defeats, the losses to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao in which he could no longer withstand the punishment, and the decisions dropped to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout, in which the tangibles that were his skills and technique and the intangibles that were his heart and guts still would not be enough.
They recognized that he was the underdog against Sergio Martinez on Saturday night, that Cotto was ?despite his name being listed first on the marquee and being announced second in the arena ?still the challenger going up against the champion, a smaller junior middleweight moving up to take on a taller middleweight. They understood that Cotto’s accomplishments at 154 pounds did not compare with his own achievements at 147 and 140, that he had not beaten someone of Martinez’s class in years. They knew, too, that Martinez was very good and very intent on proving this again, this time at Cotto’s expense. [Click Here To Read More]
Most of them were there to see Miguel Cotto, to support their champion who had represented the island of Puerto Rico, home to some, homeland for the rest, in the 2000 Olympics; who had come up as a young professional prizefighter at a time when the career of their charismatic icon, Felix “Tito?Trinidad, was nearing its end.
They were there to support a fighter who, like Tito, thrust left hooks into the liver and ribs of his opponents as if his glove were a shovel breaking the earth and making it crumble beneath him.
He had brought them triumphs, with the world title reigns at junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight. He brought them out by the thousands and tens of thousands, fans who would chant his name at arenas in Puerto Rico named for athletic legends and famed figures, in storied venues in New York City and New Jersey, and in casinos in the American boxing capital of Las Vegas.
They lived vicariously through his victories, be they battles or slaughters, and they were desolate following his defeats, the losses to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao in which he could no longer withstand the punishment, and the decisions dropped to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout, in which the tangibles that were his skills and technique and the intangibles that were his heart and guts still would not be enough.
They recognized that he was the underdog against Sergio Martinez on Saturday night, that Cotto was ?despite his name being listed first on the marquee and being announced second in the arena ?still the challenger going up against the champion, a smaller junior middleweight moving up to take on a taller middleweight. They understood that Cotto’s accomplishments at 154 pounds did not compare with his own achievements at 147 and 140, that he had not beaten someone of Martinez’s class in years. They knew, too, that Martinez was very good and very intent on proving this again, this time at Cotto’s expense. [Click Here To Read More]
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