August 26th 2017. Miguel Cotto and Yoshihiro Hamegai come glove to face, and face to glove to contest the vacant WBO light middleweight world championship in Carson, California.
RED CORNER
In the red corner, by way of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Miguel Angel Cotto. He enters the ring with a impressive record of 45 fights, 40 wins and only 5 losses, with 33 of those wins coming by way of knock out(73% KO ratio). He is the first ever Puerto Rican four weight world champion, winning five world titles from light welterweight (140lbs) up to middleweight (160lbs). Cotto stands at 5' 7"/ 170cm and has a reach of 67"/170cm. He is 36 years old.
BLUE CORNER
And in the blue corner, by way of Tokyo, Japan, Yoshihiro Hamegai. Hamegai enters the ring with a record of 32 fights, 27 wins, 3 losses and 2 draws with 24 of those wins by way of knockout (75% KO ratio). He is a former Japanese Super lightweight champion and a one time contender for the WBA International Welterweight world title. Hamegai stands at 5'9"/175cm and has a reach of 71"/180cm. He is 34 years old.
BAD DATE FOR A GOOD FIGHT
Due to the over exposed media super fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor Mcgregor, this extremely interesting match-up has received a lot less interest than is truly deserved.
Miguel Cotto is one of the greatest and most exciting fighters of our generation, ever evident by taking a quick scan over his boxing resume. What you'll find, is a who's who of boxing royalty over the past ten years, Floyd Mayweahter, Manny Pacquiao, Saul Alvaerz and Sergio Martinez to name but a few from a very long impressive list.
This willingness to challenge not just the best boxers, but also to challenge himself, to put his record, his pride, his titles and his wellbeing on the line, is one of the many characteristics that makes Miguel such an exciting fighter.
He is a highly skilled boxer puncher who could win most of his fights by staying on the outside and out boxing his opponents, but this is not the Cotto way. Its not a real Cotto fight, unless someone is bruised and bleeding very badly, unluckily for most of Cotto's opponents, it is usually not Cotto.
When Miguel does choose to box, it can be a thing of majestic beauty, his movement, his footwork, his little tricks and feints and his ability to instantly switch direction in one seemingly fluid movement, makes for a difficult task for any challenger. Miguel has a very specific, unique movement pattern that all his fans know and love.
Yoshihiro Hamegai is a strong come forward swarming, aggressive, slugger, who likes nothing more than to stand in the pocket, and trade blow for blow, I hit you, you hit me, and lets see who's still standing when its all over and done, that's his style, its simple, its understated but its highly effective, especially when considering its backed up with a granite chin, an everlasting engine and a punch like a mules kick. In his 32 fight career, he has never been stopped, all his losses have come via a points defeat.
Cotto is 36 years old now, and hasn't fought since 2015 when he lost a closely fought points decision to Saul Alvaerz. He has had a hard career that is filled with a lot of all out wars, so his 36, is an old 36.
Hamegai has had less fights, but has not yet fought opposition in this elite level, he is hungry for a taste of success and this makes him very, very dangerous.
I think Cotto will prevail in the end. The style which he chooses to fight with on the night will depend on how difficult the fight will be for him. If he utilizes his superior boxing ability then he should win comfortably, but knowing Cotto. he will at some point in the fight see red and choose to go to war, either way it should be a long hard tough exciting fight.
Happy Viewing
images
pixabay
sources
https://boxrec.com
This post is one in a series of planned posts about upcoming boxing events titled red corner, blue corner. If you like what you've read keep an eye out, or better still follow me
just a side note I am having a little trouble finding free to reuse images. if anyone has any tips or advice it would be greatly appreciated.
Full steem ahead. choo choo