Miguel Cotto Confident: I Don't Think Sadam Ali Has a Chance

[Ruthless-RKO]

On December 2nd, boxing will say farewell to one of its flagbearers, Miguel Cotto, when he defends his WBO World Super-Welterweight Title against Sadam Ali.

The Puerto Rican promises this will be his final fight before stepping away from the limelight. Speaking to Fight Hub TV last week, the legend is confident he will not get emotional during the bout: “I don’t think I will.

“I’ve had the opportunity in my career to enjoy my life. Boxing’s given me the opportunity to provide well for my family. There’s always a time to say goodbye, this is my time.”

His American opponent has been confident in the build-up, but four-weight World Champion Cotto is unconcerned. “I don’t think [Ali has a chance]. I’m going to do my best, I’m going to turn up in my best shape just to face him and beat him.”

This training camp also marks the final time ‘Junito’ and trainer Freddie Roach will prepare together. The WBO Champion is sure his last ever bout under Roach will be a good experience.

“We’re going to enjoy every second together all the way. All I want to say [to the fans] is thank you to them and thank you for having me here,” he added.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Hey, all of you "titles mean something" idiots,
how do you explain the legitimacy of Sadam Ali's title shot?
First fight at 154. Only the IBF has him ranked (#9 @ 147)
Got stopped by a C+ fighter for his 147 title, and fought bums at 147 since.

If Ali wins by DQ, what prestige belongs to any of the fighters who defeat him?

Note: Sadam Ali is not among the:
Top 16 WBO fighters at 147
Top 15 WBO fighters at 154

How does he essentially skip (at least) 31 fighters to get a shot at a championship?
If titles were worth anything, wouldn't this have been a non-title fight?

Explain.

[Badhusker]

Hey, all of you "titles mean something" idiots,
how do you explain the legitimacy of Sadam Ali's title shot?
First fight at 154. Only the IBF has him ranked (#9 @ 147)
Got stopped by a C+ fighter for his 147 title, and fought bums at 147 since.

If Ali wins by DQ, what prestige belongs to any of the fighters who defeat him?

Note: Sadam Ali is not among the:
Top 16 WBO fighters at 147
Top 15 WBO fighters at 154

How does he essentially skip (at least) 31 fighters to get a shot at a championship?
If titles were worth anything, wouldn't this have been a non-title fight?

Explain.

Good points. Cotto having a belt at 154 is a joke to begin with.

[Lackeos]

I think he has a chance. I wouldn't slate Ali as the favorite, but Cotto is reaching a point where he would probably struggle with anyone in the #8-17 range, and Ali is a handful of ranks below that. So Cotto's chance of winning is probably around 87%.

[northern]

I find it hard not to agree with Cotto, no disrespect for Ali in anyway intended but he's fighting against a re-motivated Cotto who we could see return to, if only for a short time, to his most aggressive and punishing style of boxing.

The reason I say this is simple, It's his last fight. It's a matter of pride for him, he want's to finish strong, he want's to go out on top on his terms and in a sport like boxing that's near enough impossible.
Ali isn't a push over but the mental side of it is hard to debate, yes if Ali wins he is a world champion and he can compete against the elite of the world from that fight onwards. Cotto on the other hand is already there, he's been fighting the best for years and the idea of going out via a KO loss wouldn't sit well with him, the idea probably horrifies him, so he'll have been training to be at his physical and mental best for this fight.

All the experience he's accumulated over the years of world level fights against a still up and coming Sadam Ali, the level of mental and tactical preparation he'll have put into this fight will have been second to none so I expect Cotto to put in a great performance and win convincingly before saying his goodbyes to the sport.

[brilo33]

as a big cotto fan, kind of gutted this is his final fight ,loved his early fights such as the Ricardo Torres fight ,but i think his return fight against margarito was one of my favourite , shame he never met with hatton around 2006 in new york that would of been a hell of a noise

[Kalan]

This is a setup for Cotto... Ali is a Welterweight and looked bad getting stopped by Jessie Vargas, a feather hitter... That's why they chose him for Cotto.... However I expect Ali do do well and win 3 or 4 rounds and possibly go the distance.

[Badhusker]

This is such a disgrace, a joke. At least find a lower level guy at your own weight. I hope he loses.

[Ruthless-RKO]

If he's THAT confident.. Why not fight someone that he 'thinks' will be more challenging.

[gilgamesh]

Sadam Ali has a better chance than Cotto is giving him. I'd still be picking Cotto, but I don't think it'll be as easy as Cotto's thinking it will be.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Cotto has not (clearly) beaten one good opponent since losing to Margarito in 2008.
Cotto has been cherry-picking bums and losing to good fighters for almost a decade.

Jenning, Clottey*, Foreman, Mayorga, Margarito II, Rodriguez, Martinez**, Geale, Kamegai.
*Clottey beat Cotto (IMO), but officially it's a SD.
** Martinez was one-legged

[punchoutsb]

Seems like Cotto shares the opinion of everyone else on planet earth.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Hey, all of you "titles mean something" idiots,
how do you explain the legitimacy of Sadam Ali's title shot?
First fight at 154. Only the IBF has him ranked (#9 @ 147)
Got stopped by a C+ fighter for his 147 title, and fought bums at 147 since.

If Ali wins by DQ, what prestige belongs to any of the fighters who defeat him?

Note: Sadam Ali is not among the:
Top 16 WBO fighters at 147
Top 15 WBO fighters at 154

How does he essentially skip (at least) 31 fighters to get a shot at a championship?
If titles were worth anything, wouldn't this have been a non-title fight?

Explain.

[Tanzio]

Hey, all of you "titles mean something" idiots,
how do you explain the legitimacy of Sadam Ali's title shot?
First fight at 154. Only the IBF has him ranked (#9 @ 147)
Got stopped by a C+ fighter for his 147 title, and fought bums at 147 since.

If Ali wins by DQ, what prestige belongs to any of the fighters who defeat him?

Note: Sadam Ali is not among the:
Top 16 WBO fighters at 147
Top 15 WBO fighters at 154

How does he essentially skip (at least) 31 fighters to get a shot at a championship?
If titles were worth anything, wouldn't this have been a non-title fight?

Explain.

It was a retirement fight, pumpkin head.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Hey, all of you "titles mean something" idiots,
how do you explain the legitimacy of Sadam Ali's title shot?
First fight at 154. Only the IBF has him ranked (#9 @ 147)
Got stopped by a C+ fighter for his 147 title, and fought bums at 147 since.

If Ali wins by DQ, what prestige belongs to any of the fighters who defeat him?

Note: Sadam Ali is not among the:
Top 16 WBO fighters at 147
Top 15 WBO fighters at 154

How does he essentially skip (at least) 31 fighters to get a shot at a championship?
If titles were worth anything, wouldn't this have been a non-title fight?

Explain.

It was a retirement fight, pumpkin head.

That is not the point I’m making dick head.

But just for fun ...
So a retiring champion can donate the belt to a guy who should be 31st (or further back) in line?

It simply doesn’t make sense because the ABCs don’t make sense.
Stop legitimaizing the decline of the sport.

[gilgamesh]

How did he donate the belt to him? He tried to beat him and couldn't.

Sadam Ali wasn't far outside of the Top 15 at Welterweight I don't think, moving up and getting this win proved that he was better than a lot of you thought he was.

His reign won't last long as a titleholder I don't figure because people will definitely be gunning for him, but he's still a respectably talented fighter. No world beater, but a solid talent nonetheless.

[boxing_rocks]

It was a retirement fight, pumpkin head.

That is not the point I’m making dick head.

But just for fun ...
So a retiring champion can donate the belt to a guy who should be 31st (or further back) in line?

It simply doesn’t make sense because the ABCs don’t make sense.
Stop legitimaizing the decline of the sport.

We are talking about the diva here. There are very few of those, and they fight whoever they want, and not only for their retirement fights.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

So the forum assclown is at it again. Very good fight.

[Tanzio]

It was a retirement fight, pumpkin head.

That is not the point I’m making dick head.

But just for fun ...
So a retiring champion can donate the belt to a guy who should be 31st (or further back) in line?

It simply doesn’t make sense because the ABCs don’t make sense.
Stop legitimaizing the decline of the sport.

Stop delegitimizing good fights. You must have missed the part where Cotto tore his left bicep amidst taking control of the fight. Of course, you didn’t bother to watch the fight, did you?

[Kalan]

Damned good fight... Ali isn't a bad little boxer... He's no Mikey, but he's not real bad.

[boxing_rocks]

If the story about the torn bicep is true, then the history is repeating itself. Cotto grabbed a belt from crippled Martinez, and now he lost his belt due to the alleged injury. The only difference is that Cotto didn't deserve that WBO belt anyway.

[Badhusker]

Damned good fight... Ali isn't a bad little boxer... He's no Mikey, but he's not real bad.

Nice little prediction. Hey, guess you were right! Try putting it out there before the fight takes place next time.
Sadam Ali was KO'd by light hitting Jessie Vargas at welterweight, so I predict this is a cherry pick. Wait, I was right.....and it backfired. Cotto is just lucky Spence didn't agree to GB's offer, or he would have had a severe beating.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Stop delegitimizing good fights. You must have missed the part where Cotto tore his left bicep amidst taking control of the fight. Of course, you didn’t bother to watch the fight, did you?

That's not what I'm saying. It was a good fight.
It was not a retirement fight.
It was a championship fight.

I'm not saying fight the number 1 guy ...
At least fight a guy in the top 10 in one of the two divisions (154 or 147).

A guy just skips everyone to a title.
Now he'll fight 1-2 times a year.
The guys who "earned" their rankings and "deserve" title paydays get skipped over.

How could any sport with ranking continue to go on like this?
Oh yeah, have dumb fans ...

[gilgamesh]

Stop delegitimizing good fights. You must have missed the part where Cotto tore his left bicep amidst taking control of the fight. Of course, you didn’t bother to watch the fight, did you?

That's not what I'm saying. It was a good fight.
It was not a retirement fight.
It was a championship fight.

I'm not saying fight the number 1 guy ...
At least fight a guy in the top 10 in one of the two divisions (154 or 147).

A guy just skips everyone to a title.
Now he'll fight 1-2 times a year.
The guys who "earned" their rankings and "deserve" title paydays get skipped over.

How could any sport with ranking continue to go on like this?
Oh yeah, have dumb fans ...

It's a Cracker Jack box title that holds virtually no significance anyway. Paper Titles have Paper Champions. Don't take 'em so seriously.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

It's a Cracker Jack box title that holds virtually no significance anyway. Paper Titles have Paper Champions. Don't take 'em so seriously.

Believe it or not, there is a new generation of fight fans who don't understand this.