Cotto victory an important first step
AP Photo/Henny Ray AbramsMichael Jennings, left, said Miguel Cotto was the hardest puncher he's ever faced. NEW YORK -- Miguel Cotto was a prohibitive favorite against Michael Jennings and did what he was supposed to do -- storm to a dominant victory. But what did the win prove for Cotto, who was seeking to exorcise the demons of his dramatic first loss, an 11th-round knockout to Antonio Margarito in July?
Yes, Cotto destroyed the overmatched, previously untested Englishman, dropping him three times en route to a fifth-round TKO on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
And, yes, Cotto won a vacant welterweight title, hoisting the third title of his career, the second at welterweight.
But even with such a smashing victory, cheered wildly by the mostly Puerto Rican crowd of 11,120, it is still hard to gauge just where Cotto is.
To be sure, this was an important first step for Cotto following that epic battle with Margarito last summer, a fight that has since been badly tainted given Margarito's license revocation in California for trying to fight Shane Mosley last month with loaded hand wraps.
It is not unreasonable to believe that Margarito's wraps were also tampered with before the fight with Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs), especially given the disfigured nature of his face after the defeat.
"This was a very important fight psychologically," said Evangelista Cotto, Miguel's trainer and uncle. "He had to get back in the ring, and he looked very decisive. I was very pleased."
Cotto looked at the victory as something of a new beginning for his career.
"I'm happy because I want to be a better boxer and tonight was a pretty good start," he said. "The loss made me stronger and more focused and a better boxer."
Jennings (34-2, 16 KOs) was no world beater, but he was in the ring seemingly trying his best to give Cotto a good fight. He just couldn't.
Cotto came out deliberately stalking Jennings and trying to get the feel of the ring again.
"I told him while we were walking to the ring to be cautious in the first round and to remember your jab," Evangelista Cotto said.
Miguel Cotto quickly found his comfort zone and when he really turned up the heat in the fourth round, it was more or less over.
"He's a great fighter, the hardest puncher I've ever faced," Jennings said. "He's very deceiving. You think you're out of his range yet he strikes and connects. That really surprised me."
Cotto was hurting Jennings with jabs and left hooks, one of which really rattled Jennings. A follow up body shot dropped Jennings in a corner.
Moments later, Jennings was down again from another body shot. This time, his trainer, Brian Hughes, was motioning for him to stay down. But Jennings would have none of that and was up at the count of nine, and survived the round.
But Cotto was all over him again in the fifth round and finally put him down again. And again, Hughes motioned him to stay down. The 31-year-old with a big heart got up though. However, referee Benji Esteves had seen enough and called it off at 2:36.
"It was a little slow in the beginning," Cotto said. "I wanted to be the Miguel once again who studied boxers at the beginning of the fight. After the left hook, I jumped into him because I wanted to finish it off."
So with the obligatory comeback fight out of the way, Cotto can look to bigger and better fights. He's probably going to fight again in June back at the Garden. Two of the leading candidates for that bout are fellow Top Rank-promoted titleholder and New Yorker Joshua Clottey and former titleholder Kermit Cintron.
But Cotto, 28, who earned at least $1 million to Jennings' $250,000, has something bigger on his mind.
"There's the winner of the [Manny] Pacquiao-[Ricky] Hatton fight," he said of the much-anticipated junior welterweight championship showdown on May 2. "If the winner wants to fight me, I'm here."
Perhaps, Cotto will get that winner. And perhaps he is now all the way back from the loss to Margarito.
But even with Jennings shoved aside, we just don't know for sure.
Duddy cruises past Vanda
Middleweight John Duddy the brawler turned into a bit more of a boxer and rolled past Matt Vanda (39-9, 22 KOs) for a unanimous decision victory.
Duddy's penchant for all-out bloody slugfests has endeared him to New York's Irish community, but he must have realized that to continue with that style would undoubtedly shorten his career. Either that or trainer Pat Burns, working with Duddy (26-0, 17 KOs) for just the second time, has gotten through to him.
Duddy, 29, feinted more and moved his head more than he has in the past and the results were clear -- he came out of the fight without cuts and bruises and another win on his record, despite a 10th round in which he took a number of hard shots.
"He kicked the wee out of me a little bit there, but I'm still standing," Duddy said of the 10th round.
It was a far better performance than Duddy's last at the Garden. Last February, he was the leading candidate to land a world title shot against Kelly Pavlik but suffered severe cuts in a debatable decision win against Walid Smichet, ruining his title shot.
The judges had it 99-91, 99-91 and 97-93 for Duddy. ESPN.com also had it for Duddy, 99-91.
Duddy was fighting for the first time since June. Since then he's had a falling out with former promoter Irish Ropes over his contract and purses. Top Rank is interested in signing him and reviving talks for a fight with Pavlik, who retained the middleweight championship by stopping Marco Antonio Rubio at the end of the ninth round in Youngstown, Ohio, Saturday night.
• Middleweight Matvey Korobov (4-0, 4 KOs) scored a spectacular one-punch knockout of Cory Jones (4-5, 1 KO) with one second remaining in the fourth and final round.
Korobov, one of Top Rank's most promising prospects and a 2008 Russian Olympian now living in Florida, was on his way to an easy decision against Jones, who was reluctant to engage the southpaw.
But late in the fourth round, Korobov threw a short right hand that landed dead on Jones' chin and dropped him face first. Jones, 31, was out cold before he hit the canvas.
Korobov, 26, also a two-time world amateur champion, said the punch is something he and trainer Dan Birmingham have been working on.
"It's called a step-back right hook. You step back and it gives you room to throw the punch," Korobov said.
Korobov's next fight will come May 2 on the Hatton-Pacquiao undercard in Las Vegas.
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
