Monday, February 28, 2005

Cotto vs. "Chop Chop" Corley

Interesting fight! I was disappointed but not completely. Cotto was clearly picked to thump the women's lingerie/dress wearing Corley, but it didn't completely happen that way. Corley, despite his transvestite tendencies, is really a tough opponent. I actually like watching him box. Beaten by the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Jr, and Zab Judah, no one has ever KO'd Corley. I'm not positive, but I don't believe that Corley had ever touched the canvas.

Anyway, Corley doesn't have a knock out punch but he does score lots of points. His problem Saturday night was three fold: 1> Cotto weighed 17lbs heavier 2> Cotto is the better boxer of the two 3> the fight took place in Puerto Rico - Cotto's home turf. I'm not so sure that Cotto's abilities had a lot to do with this particular fight but his heavier weight played heavy (pardon the pun). Cotto's body shots to Chop Chop eventually tore him down. In the fifth round Corley took a knee and the Ref called the fight. The boxing community should be outraged by this blatant early stoppage of the fight. It was ridiculous. In the long run the outcome would have probably been the same but you never know! I've seen boxers come back from unbelievable circumstances to dominate an opponent.

What I really liked about this fight is that Corley all but knocked out Cotto in the third round. In my opinion, Corley's left hook to Cotto's head was the best shot of the fight. Cotto was completely off balance and close to heading for the canvas. It really added to the excitement of the fight. My hat is off to Corley who deserves a rematch. Of course that could be a bad decision if Cotto comes in so much heavier. Why take a beating from such a bigger opponent who really is technically more savvy. And if he does go for the rematch - stay away from Cotto's hometown! Hometown fights beat more opponents than punches.

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