Cotto v Canelo: The big fight that will live up to the hype

Sunday’s fight between Miguel Cotto (40-4-0) and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (47-1-1) is what boxing is all about.

Two of the best fighters in the world clashing in a fight mostly devoid of the usual politics that comes along with the sport.

Boxing generally has a habit of getting in its own way and we saw an example of that this week, with Cotto stripped of the WBC Middleweight Title for failing to pay $300,000 in sanctioning fees.  

Canelo can still claim the title should he win the fight, but the lack of the WBC strap doesn’t take the shine off this fight whatsoever.

With the Mayweather-Pacquiao sideshow almost gone, Cotto and Canelo have stepped up in their absence.

The only fight in boxing today that is bigger is probably Gennady Golovkin against the winner, that’s if Cotto and Canelo actually have interest in fighting him.

Had you sold me a Cotto-Alvarez fight three years ago, it would have looked very different.

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was the next king of boxing, whilst Miguel Cotto was slowly losing the race against father time, seemingly destined to embark on a career trajectory similar to Mosley, Maragrito and Co.

But strangely in the last two years, the tables have turned.

Miguel Cotto has sparked new life into his career, in a new division, whilst Canelo has still yet to really show he is capable of carrying boxing’s crown, with the doubters growing all the time.

It all looked so promising for Canelo. As a 23-year-old he was undefeated in 44 career fights, and landed the biggest prize in the game, a shot at Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. 

The Mayweather fight came a little too soon for Canelo. He was fed to the wolves in a way.

Mayweather was running out of options to fight and Canelo was next in line. Golden Boy (Canelo’s promotional company) accepted the risk, knowing that if Canelo did pull off a victory, well they’d have the goose with the golden egg.

But of course we now know that Canelo wasn’t good enough to beat Mayweather and in fact the fight showed he probably wasn’t ready for it either.

The fight left you feeling that Canelo was still morphing from potential star to superstar and left you thinking, ‘what a fighter he’ll be in a few years time’.

But here we are now a few years down the line and in my opinion Canelo still hasn’t become that fighter, yet. There’s no denying he is a star, but he’s yet to become the star he was touted to be.

His fight with Miguel Cotto could be that coming out party, and there’s big pressure on the Mexican fighter to ensure it is.   

Canelo has had 47 fights, but he doesn’t fight like someone with that many rounds under his belt. Looking at his record, he’s only really had a few high profile fights. Cotto on the other hand has toiled at the elite level for years.

Canelo fought Shane Mosley back in 2012, when it is safe to say Mosley had seen better days. Austin Trout was an up and comer, but Canelo showed he was in a different class. The loss to Mayweather followed, and since then it’s been a rebuild of the Alvarez brand.

Sure, Erislandy Lara and James Kirkland are no pushovers, but they are not Miguel Cotto.

Cotto on the other hand has been in the ring with everyone. Mosley, Margarito, Pacquiao, Mayorga, Mayweather, Trout and Martinez.

It is this experience that his trainer Freddie Roach says will be the difference, and I tend to agree.

Cotto has been in wars. He’s had to dig deep and find something within himself in the championship rounds. We can’t yet say the same for Canelo.

Of Cotto’s four career losses, two have been to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, the third was to Antonio Margarito, who was later found to be using loaded gloves.

The loss to Austin Trout was a major shock and led to Cotto linking with Roach at the Wildcard Gym.  That decision has revived the Puerto Rican fighter.

This most recent incarnation of Cotto is some fighter. Moving up a division* has reinvigorated the 35-year-old.

He is back to his destructive best, with three stoppage wins in his last three fights.

Some will punch holes in those fights. Delvin Rodriguez and Daniel Geale aren’t elite level fighters, whilst Sergio Martinez was not as his best, with injury playing his part.

But Cotto can only beat what’s in front of him and he has done so in devastating fashion.

Freddie Roach’s training has seen Cotto resemble the killer of the late 2000’s with the famed punching power back.

Floyd Mayweather came out recently and said Cotto was the only fighter to ever hurt him. If Cotto brings the intense style he has shown in the last three fights, I don’t think Canelo can handle it.

One thing that can be guaranteed is that Cotto-Canelo will live up to the hype. Both fighters bring action, both won't die wondering.

It's must see on Sunday.  

PREDICTION: I think Cotto wins. I just haven’t seen Canelo go to that next level. Some betting companies in Australia have Cotto at $8.80 to win via TKO, its handy odds!

Miguel Cotto v Saul Alvarez, Sunday 1pm AEST on MAIN EVENT PPV

10 years on: The night that changed Australian football

November 16, 2005.

What a night! It is one I will never forget for as long as I live.

I was one of the lucky few to be inside ANZ Stadium that evening and it remains my greatest sporting moment.

I’ve been lucky enough to witness some special sporting events. I’ve been to World Cups, NRL and AFL Finals, I’ve witnessed English Premier League games, Asian Cup finals, big Boxing and UFC fights, but frankly nothing comes close.

In 2005 I was just 18 years of age, only a few months out of high school and working part-time at Target whilst taking the first steps in my media career.

Tickets to the match took a fair chunk out of my minimal wages, but looking back now, they are priceless. Even being part of the ‘football family’, I could only manage to secure seats most commonly known as ‘nosebleed’, in fact, they were literally three rows from the highest point of ANZ Stadium.

The seats were so bad my father, with whom I’ve experienced all my previous Socceroo heartache decided not to attend, he said he would watch from home.

I asked him as I was writing this article whether he regrets that decision. He tells me he doesn’t, but I say secretly it’s one he has regretted ever since.

Instead I attended the game with two of my best mates, and it is a memory we will have for life.

I took a piece of my father with me to the game, as I was wearing his old Socceroo jersey, you know that finger painting design from the early 1980’s that is considered the worst of all-time!

As soon as we found our seats, you could tell this night was going to be very different. The crowd was in full voice already and we were still a fair way from kick-off.

‘Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole....Aussie, Aussie” rang around the stadium.

This was a different crowd than I’d ever experienced before at a Socceroo match, and trust me I’d been to a few before 2005.

My first memory of World Cup heartbreak was 1993. I was still very young, but I remember the buzz around Maradona and Argentina coming to the SFS.

We were heroic home and away, but just fell short after a gallant performance in the return leg in Buenos Aries.

Iran 1997. That’s another night I will never forget. We we’re off to France 98 and then we weren’t. We were so dominant in that first half hour; it could have been 5-0. It would end 2-2

Kharim Bagheri and Khodadad Azizi. The two Iranian goal scorers. It’s a trivia question I will know the answer to for life.

I remember 2001 at the MCG. Paul Agostino winning a penalty and Kevin Muscat making it 1-0.

A week later, I was late for school, watching Uruguay do us 3-0 in Montevideo.

But something about 2005 was different.

The evidence of that was during the national anthem, where the Australian crowd booed the Uruguayan anthem.

Some said booing the anthem was wrong and unsporting. I loved it.

Now, booing the opposing nations anthem happens a lot in football, in fact the Uruguayan fans did exactly the same to the Australian anthem in the first leg in Montevideo.

Oh, and they even spat at the Socceroos at the airport and tormented the players at the hotel by tooting their horns and letting off sirens as they slept.

Booing the anthem was a substantial shift by an Australian crowd. We were no longer going to sit back and take it. It showed we were up for the fight as well, and I’m sure the players got a kick out of it too.

The most memorable aspect of the game was of course the fact Harry Kewell was left on the bench by Guus Hiddink. Kewell would of course enter the game for Tony Popovic after about 30 minutes, and given Kewell’s pass/miss kick set up Mark Bresciano for the opening goal, it is seen as a master stroke.

Hiddink was arguably the biggest difference in the Socceroos of 2005. He gave them belief and we stood taller with the Dutchman behind us. John O’Neill’s time in football was relatively short, but his move to land Hiddink is probably the single biggest coup in Australian football history.

Thinking back now and trying to reflect on moments in the game, much of the 90 minutes is a blur of nervous energy. Uruguay having won the first leg 1-0 only needed a goal and they’d go through, and I remember Alvaro Recoba going really close with a long range chip. Other than that most of the game was watched through my hands.

The penalty shootout remains vivid though and those saves of Mark Schwarzer’s are some of the best you will ever see.

I remember my Dad telling me stories of Jimmy Mackay’s goal that got the Socceroos to the 1974 World Cup and I imagine telling my own children one day of Schwarzer’s heroics.

We were nearly there.

Only for Mark Viduka to spray his penalty wide. VIDUKA!! Our captain on the night and one of our greatest ever exports.  

But Schwarzer would save the day again, and what a save! 

We obviously all know that John Aloisi would put Australia into its first World Cup finals in 32 years, burying his penalty with aplomb.

He’s probably thankful Viduka missed the penalty in a way, as with all due respect, he’d probably not quite be as iconic as he is now, and I’m sure ‘that penalty’ has brought in the odd endorsement or two.

In the stadium, the moment that Aloisi’s penalty hit the back of the net, it was delirium. I remember jumping all over my mates, hugging a random stranger next to me and signing ‘Land Down Under’ several times.

That night would see us go on a magical ride with the Socceroos throughout the 2006 World Cup which would show us more memorable moments, and feats we’ve yet to see repeated in South Africa 2010 or Brazil 2014.  

But that moment in 2005 is special for a bigger reason.

I’ve been a football fan all my life. I was born into a love of the game, passed down by my father. I was in Italy for the 1990 World Cup and remember cheering on Italy all the way to the final in 1994. My idol as a kid was Roberto Baggio (don’t mention the penalty).

Sure, I always cheered on Australia, but moments of cheer were few and far between. Even when we’d beat the likes of Fiji, New Caledonia and American Samoa.

I’d followed the NSL, as a Marconi supporter, and witnessed Grand Finals with less than 10,000 people. I saw some great times, but there were a lot of the bad times as well.

I often wonder where the game would be now had we not suffered the heartache of 1997 and gone to the World Cup in France. 

I was told a story recently where the Socceroos apparently had to break in to St George Stadium in Sydney to train before the 1997 World Cup qualifiers, as Soccer Australia couldn’t afford to lease a ground. The precinct was in that bad a condition that the bus driver refused to drop the players at the main gate, forcing them to walk. 

Seeing the rise of football since ‘that night’ in 2005, we’ve come a long way.

The A-League has its issues, but it’s still early days. The Socceroos are on the way up again and junior participation continues to rise, particularly through the women’s game.

One night ten years ago changed everything.

It is a night that will be with me forever, the night Australia finally opened their hearts to football. 

Ronda Rousey rocked by perfect Holm

Copyright: Zuffa 

Holly Holm is the new UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion courtesy of her team developing the perfect game plan, and it started long before she entered the Octagon.

The ploy was to make Ronda Rousey fight the fight Holly Holm wanted, and not the one that best matched her strengths.

For a long time Rousey hasn’t felt like she has been receiving the plaudits for her boxing skills, with many people seeing her as someone who wins fights solely on the basis of her judo ability.

The Holm fight was her chance to show she wasn’t a one trick pony.

But having an ego like Rousey’s can be a dangerous thing and it came back to bite her at UFC 193.

The execution of the Holm plan was evident at the weigh-in, from Rousey’s charge across the stage to Holly, along with a clearly agitated post weigh-in  interview with Joe Rogan.

Ronda was clearly rattled.

That’s exactly what the Holm camp wanted. 

They didn’t want a calm and methodical Rousey, one that would wear down Holm, eventually getting on the inside, taking her down and finding a way to finish.

They wanted a seriously pissed off Rousey. 

One that would ensure the fight would be a stand-up fight. One whose ego wanted to show she could out box a 19-time Boxing champion. 

They wanted one with a chip on her shoulder, and it was the one they got.   

Ronda Rousey has blown through opponents in recent times. Her last three fights prior to UFC 193 lasted all of a 90 seconds. She wanted to do the same to Holly Holm, in fact, she had to, and it has almost become the Rousey gimmick.

But for an established fighter like Holm, a relentlessly come forward fighter like Rousey is gold. 

Their chin is easy to find.

Rousey has gone through countless opponents because they have done the same.

But Holm was smarter.

 She used the distance, fought at range, catching Rousey as she rushed forward time and time again. With every punch, life drained out of the UFC star, then a sweetly timed kick knocked Rousey to the canvas and the damage was done.

The poster child of the UFC was downed and we had a new Bantamweight champion, and the world was stunned.

Whilst Rousey has quickly made herself a Superstar, there’s been some who have questioned her climb.

Some said she was one of the greatest fighters we will ever see, others questioned the quality of fighter put in front of her.

After her most recent win over Bethe Correira in Brazil, many said the UFC had simply run out of dance partners for the American.  

Every great champion is defined by their greatest adversaries – Ali had Frazier and Foreman, Mayweather had Pacquiao and others, Ronda Rousey now has hers in Holly Holm. 

You sense Rousey’s story is still to be written, with her legacy being defined by her time spent inside the Octagon with the new Bantamweight champion.

Dana White said in the UFC 193 post fight press conference that an immediate rematch makes sense.  

The rematch books itself, and it will do incredible business.

 As much as Dana White may have cringed post fight at his mega star coming unstuck, the UFC will most likely make more money as a consequence.

Ronda Rousey will be back and Holm will take some beating. But already everyone is licking their lips at a rematch.

Champions are made by the setbacks they endure.

The perfect plan that foiled Rousey in Melbourne will not work again.

Rousey will lick her wounds and every waiting second between now and the rematch, Ronda will plot her revenge. 

The ego has been checked. There’s nothing more humbling for a fighter than recognising their own mortality. But for the greats, such an experience steels them.

This setback may just take Rousey to the next level.

 She’s a global star now, but a rematch with Holly Holm will certainly lift her profile and the entire Women’s Mixed Martial Arts scene to a higher place.

Should she beat Holly Holm, it would only heighten the demand for a super fight with Cyborg, which was apparently in the works, had she, as expected walked out of Melbourne victorious.

But for now tears are being shed. Holm’s are celebratory, Rousey’s are in defeat.

It’s back to the drawing board for both.  

Now we see just how good Ronda Rousey really is.