Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
April 12th, 2008
“My Thoughts About Cotto, Gomez
and Questionable Match Making”
Saturday night in Atlantic
City, New Jersey, Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KO’s) made easy work
of Alfonso Gomez (19-3-2, 8 KO’s) winning by TKO after the
fifth round when the ringside doctor stepped in and stopped
it. Even though Gomez was in way over his head and getting
floored three times in five rounds, he wasn’t incapable of
continuing. That stoppage, while merciful, was totally
premature.
Imagine the controversy that
would have risen had the ringside doctor come in and retired
Miguel Cotto during the DeMarcus Corley fight? No way that
that would’ve happened, but there was no controversy about
this one. Maybe to mask the more subtle controversy as to why
Cotto vs. Gomez was even made?
If that was Cotto vs. ____
(anyone who at least deserved to be in the ring with him) that
wouldn’t have been an acceptable point to stop the fight.
Gomez was still alert and capable. He was considerably beat
up, his right eye closing and his face swollen, but still
alert and capable of continuing. If Arum didn’t want Gomez to
get hurt, why match him up with one of the best fighters in
the division in the first place? It’s not like Gomez has put a
string of impressive wins together and suddenly is in a league
with the likes of Miguel Cotto.
And what the hell is up with
HBO and Showtime airing boxing programs at the same time? Do
they want to shrink the size of their audience? You can’t
watch them both unless you tape one, while watching the other,
then have to watch the tape after the first one, after which
time it's not even fresh anymore. So you need two VCRs, two
TVs and a lot of patience. Are these businessmen who run
boxing so bad at their craft that they can’t even see the
foolishness of this program scheduling? It’s like they want
fans to get sick of their idiocy and just quit being
“fanatical” about boxing. Amazing!
Alfonso Gomez is a personable
kind of guy, a good, developing fighter and someone easy to
root for. His part on the TV show, “The Contender” introduced
him to mainstream America and America seemed to like him.
Gomez was one of the most likable in a cast that included the
likes of Sergio Mora, Peter Manfredo Jr., Ishe Smith, Anthony
Bonsante, Jesse Brinkley and a few other, less remembered
fighters.
Gomez made it to The Contender
Finale and lost a decision to Manfredo. Gomez reaped the
benefits of his congeniality, as his new found fame got him a
shot to take Arturo Gatti’s last marketable fight on the road.
But don’t be fooled too much.
The great fighter that was once
Arturo Gatti was not the same guy Gomez fought and beat. Gatti
was but a shell of the rugged brawler/boxer he once was. What
made Gatti great—was that he wasn’t. He was a blue collar
fighter that everyday guys could identify with. In his better
days, he probably would have knocked Gomez out after about
four exciting rounds. Gatti gave everything he had to the
sport and the fans loved him for it. He was a modern day
Gladiator. Gatti was past his prime before Floyd Mayweather
Jr. elected to dip his beak in Gatti’s good name. Gatti was so
exciting at one time that his name alone would sell out any
venue in Atlantic City if he decided to make a comeback next
week.
These days, the power of names
seems more important than anything else in boxing. How one
gets a name depends on who one's promoter is and how much
power that promoter has. Marketability or perceived
marketability is what promoters want most in their fighters.
It’s not enough to be a great pugilist. They want to sell
tickets, make big PPV events and cash in on their investments.
Cool. Boxing is a business and businessmen run boxing. They’re
not good businessmen though, or boxing would be at least as
big as it used to be just twenty years ago; but they are the
business end of the sport. They will survive because our
collective standards have fallen so low in terms of what we
consider legitimate, boxing entertainment.
Unfortunately, some big name
fighters have become businessmen, while they’re still
fighters. They seek to protect their investment, their name,
and their unblemished records. Seems like a terrible conflict
of interests.
Brady Bunch marketability
aside, how the hell does Alfonso Gomez, with a meager record
of 18-3, with only 8 KO’s qualify as an opponent to the
unbeaten, WBA World Titlist, Miguel Cotto? The same guy that
most fans with a functioning brain want to see fight Floyd
Mayweather Jr. to clear up the fog at Welterweight.
I mean, how cheap is
a World Title? Was there no one at Welter worthy of a shot at
Cotto’s title? What about the upper echelon of
prospect/contenders like Andre Berto, Collazo, Williams,
Clottey, and Klose? How about sudden sensation who never
fought nobody, Julio Caesar Chavez Jr.? He’s already ranked #5
in the WBC, can you imagine? What about Yuri Nuzhnenko? I
know, I never heard of him either, but Gomez?
Miguel Cotto is arguably one of
the best fighters in all of boxing. He’s an undefeated
champion with a fairly strong résumé. After wins over Paul
Malignaggi, Carlos Quintana, Oktay Urkal, Zab Judah and Shane
Mosley it would be logical to assume he would fight someone
with another title belt at best or someone who’s a top
contender at the least. This is a case of bad match making
because as the fight proved, Gomez didn’t qualify. Watching
Cotto shadow box might have been equally entertaining. And it
was kind of sad watching Gomez so overmatched. Cotto beat him
as easily as a lion might rip apart a common house cat.
Is THIS what the promoters
think fans want to see? Mismatches? I don’t think so. But
there are some fools out there who think its okay for big time
fighters to make a little extra money wasting valuable CAREER
TIME with a few safe fights between big match ups, but come
on, this is bad business on every level.
It makes Alfonso Gomez less
marketable. It makes Cotto look bad because being where he is
and fighting B class fighters suggests that maybe he doesn’t
really want to take on the best fighters out there (like
others who will remain nameless in this paragraph). It’s bad
for the sport because it insults the intelligence of fans, and
brings to light the truth, that boxing does NOT have a
legitimate rankings system and is therefore little more than a
series of “Events.” As opposed to being a legitimate,
merit based sport. It's bad business because boxing will lose
fans and the revenues will get smaller and smaller.
Miguel Cotto never calls anyone
out and after the mismatch with Gomez, Cotto stuck to his
usual line that he’ll fight whoever his manager/promoter puts
in front of him. When prodded to call out Floyd Mayweather
Jr., Cotto said he wasn’t afraid of anyone. You have to
wonder… does Cotto actually want to fight Mayweather. If so,
why not take the liberty to say so. It wouldn’t make him a
braggart. There’d be no lost honor.
Boxing feels like a soap opera
with a bunch of name brand fighters as the characters, who
dance around and avoid each other, more than go after each
other.
* *
On the lighter side of the
news, brave Puerto Rican former IBF Welterweight Titlist
Kermit Cintron showed real heart, taking on the man who
blemished his record and knocked him out a couple of years ago
in Antonio Margarito. It was like deja vu though for Kermit,
who got knocked out again, in the sixth round, the same round
he got KO’d by Margarito last time they met. This time the KO
came via a Margarito left hook to the body that felled Kermit,
who fought too stiff. Margarito is a Wildman who doesn’t care
if you hit him, so long as he can hit you. It will be tough
for Margarito to get fights with any of the other big names
except for maybe Cotto.
Truth is, Margarito should have
been fighting Cotto and Cintron should have fought Gomez, as
those would have been more interesting fights. Margarito is
lucky he gets any high profile fights as most promoters are
afraid to risk their investments against so tough a fighter.
Margarito now owns the IBF
title and should be able to force a fight with Cotto or
Quintana. Mayweather is not included because he doesn’t have
to fight the best to be the best; his fans just have to keep
believing it to make it so. Besides, we’ll be lucky to see him
fight Oscar De La Hoya again for 60 bucks in September, so
let’s not get too greedy here.
You know how many guys have to
fight with their wives and girlfriends to weasel out of family
engagements and other such obligations just so they can go
watch the fights? And for what? For this?
Since Mayweather is out of the
question, I do want to see Cotto fight Margarito. I think it’s
a great match up for both guys. Cotto has great footwork,
strong punching power and timing, decent defense and a very
relaxed style that keeps him in constant motion, almost like a
dance. Margarito brings everything—boxing, slugging, take a
shot to deliver a shot. Margarito is a tough proposition for
anyone in his realm. In retrospect, I can’t believe he lost to
Paul Williams. Maybe it was a size thing, who knows?
* * *
Comments can be
emailed to
dshark87@hotmail.com
4-12-2008
