The Pride of Puerto Rico

Although the Cotto-Quintana match is being billed as a world title event, the real headliner is the underscore themes that make this fight a potential knockout in more than one ways.Cotto raised many eyebrows when an aging DeMarcus Corley rocked him but couldn't close the show in February 2005. Several fights later, those same eyebrows turned to question marks when Cotto was involved in a thrilling match against Ricardo Torres; Torres capitalized on what Corley didn't after he buzzed Cotto and sent him to the canvas for what was believed to be Cotto's first knock down as a professional. Cotto,27-0-(23), rebounded and beat Torres by seventh round knockout, but he subjected himself to more speculation about his status as an elite 140 pounder when light punching Paul "The Magic Man" Malignaggi was able to have his moments of glory against Cotto in their fight four months ago. Cotto eventually won a unanimous decision.Now there's a new equation thrown into Cotto's career since he has defected from the 140 pound division and will make his 147 pound entrance against Quintana, 23-0-(18). Cotto will need to address the question of if he can compete at a higher weight class, and if he elects to show he can by going toe-to-toe with Quintana, this might prove disastrous. "Being a welterweight all my life has been good for me...but when I beat him, it will probably be because of my quality as a boxer and not necessarily because he came up to the welterweight division" insists Quintana.But from Cotto's perspective, he feels it's foolish to expect his seven- pound weight gain will impact him on fight night. "I am happy that I do not have to lose those last seven pounds that I always had to for 140." Cotto adds, "I think that (moving up in weight) will make me a much better fighter. I think you will also see the difference when I fight."Cotto has taken a page out of Erik Morales's book when he claims past weight problems forced him to appear sluggish and not perform at his best. "All I can tell you is I was having problems making 140. I feel great at 147." Going into Saturday's event, Cotto will have an advantage in terms of facing the better opposition, but Quintana plans to surprise Cotto and thank him afterward for an early gift if Cotto brings the mentality of expecting to win based on experience alone."My record shows that I am a good boxer and a good puncher" asserts Quintana, "so I am ready for either way... whether we box or stand there and punch, it does not matter."But the bigger focus of the fight is that each are from Puerto Rican heritage and will have something to prove specifically to Puerto Rican fans although each boxer is down playing this fact. Both men privately want to be seen as the next Puerto Rican sensation since Felix "Tito" Trinidad was the last to hold this position. "Everybody has their own legacy and their own trail to walk" stressed Quintana. "There is no question that Cotto has his own path in Puerto Rico and he was probably the No. 1 boxer for a long time but now I am in his way and if I win this fight, then I will have to walk my own path and stand my own way in Puerto Rico."As far as Cotto is concerned, he's refusing to apply any pressure on himself about this issue. "We are going to (fight). We are not thinking about that. I know there will be fans for both of us. I also know that after the great fight and after they raise my hand, everyone will be my fan." There are many questions in this fight that won't be answered until fight night. Cotto says Quintana will be only the third southpaw he has faced in his career, and the issue of why Cotto didn't take a tune-up fight to test the "water" at 147 is a mystery. However, what has been solved is based on pre fight talk of lately, it's difficult to tell where a boxer is mentally as proved by Calvin Brock's confident predictions going into his fight with Wladimir Klitschko only to be flattened in seven rounds, and who can forget Erik Morales's convincing speech about how great he felt about his weight and training only to watch him get blown out in three rounds by Manny Pacquiao a couple of weeks ago.But with Cotto and Quintana, there's a sneaky feeling these two might live up to their pre fight verbal sparring because the real battle will be for the mythical award of best Puerto Rican fighter, and deep down, each fighter wants that standing and might be willing to gamble it all to earn it.November 30, 2006