An HBO Boxing After Dark Robbery In Puerto Rico
by
Buster Paris
2/28 - Popcorn goes flying as I shoot out of my seat, eyes wide open and heart thumping. The right hook rocked him, for the first time in his professional career Miguel Cotto is in trouble. Big trouble. My thoughts race and struggle to grasp this inconceivable and unbelievable scene that I’m witnessing. DeMarcus Corley is going to knock out Miguel Cotto – holy smokes! What in the world is happening? This makes no sense and was not in the game plan…well – not in my game plan or in Cotto’s. How did things change so fast and so drastically?
Saturday night February 26th, HBO’s 'Boxing After Dark' got off to a quick start. DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley entered the ring wearing a white one-piece jumper and one of the most bizarre headwear I’ve ever seen. It looked like one of those metal octopus thingys I think called Sentinels from the Matrix landed on his head.
Then the Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez erupted with cheers. It sounded like the entire population of Puerto Rico, both inside and outside the arena were cheering as Miguel Cotto entered the ring.
30 seconds into round one and Corley is knocked down. It’s not a hard, brutal knock down, but it definitely sets the stage for a 10 / 8 round and sets a tone of what to expect. I’m happily thinking to myself of how impressive this is going to be, that Miguel is going to be the first to ever knockout DeMarcus Corley and do it within the first half of the first round. Wow!
Thinking that I’ve never seen the southpaw stance as a disadvantage to a fighter. Corley is eating punches that a southpaw doesn’t usually taste this early in a fight.
As the round comes to a close Cotto is so fired up that he hits Corley after the bell. The crowd explodes in praise and approval.
Round 2: the exchanges are more even. There is one fantastic swapping of leather where the look on DeMarcus’ face is one that reads ‘what have I gotten myself into’. This was immediately followed by what was somehow considered a low blow from Miguel and a ridiculous point deduction.
Round 3: I’m feeling pretty confident that Cotto has this fight. He’s fighting at a pace and with an attitude I’ve never seen from him. Then the unexpected happened. Corley fired off and landed a huge right hook. The kind of right hook that ends fights, and almost ended this one. Even DeMarcus looked a little surprised and then as quickly as reality registered he went after Miguel to put him away.
I’m standing and cannot believe what I’m seeing. I’m in shock and now I’m pissed that I spilled my popcorn.
Cotto is out on his feet and he’s trying to clinch. This is such a strange and surreal site to witness that it confuses me - it’s like when you see a car from the UK and the driver is operating it on the wrong side. It takes a moment for your brain to translate what your eyes are telling it.
Corley is trying to end the show and the thought of DeMarcus Corley beating Miguel Cotto just doesn’t compute. Mercifully the bell rings and ends this torment. Cotto and I both have a minute to get our popcorn back in the bowl as it were.
Round 4: Miguel seems to have his legs back and Corley is still hanging tuff. DeMarcus nails Cotto with an unintentional, but nasty low blow. You know the kind that comes right up from underneath and dead on between the legs – yup -that face you just made is the same one I had – “ooomfph”
Round 5: Miguel has slowed down the pace and is fighting in the style we know him to have. Perfect. The exchanges are beautiful from both boxers, then Cotto steps it up and DeMarcus is in some trouble, as he contemplates taking a knee he is hit a second before he decides and acts. To him he was hit while he was down, but that was not the case.
The slugfest continues and on the other side of the ring Cotto flurries, is not connecting, but has DeMarcus in trouble. Corley truly has some great ring intelligence and smartly decides to take another knee.
Referee Ismael Quinonez for some misguided reason stops the bout.
This is a horrible stoppage and should not have happened, there was absolutely no reason for it. Corley is a consummate professional; he was in trouble and took a knee. The trouble wasn’t one of danger in getting hurt or that he was seconds away from being knocked out. He was being swarmed and the best defensive solution was to take a knee.
Larry Merchant put it best when he said that this was a hometown stoppage. The hometown referee stopping the hometown fight in favor of the hometown fighter.
It’s a complete and utter shame - Corley got robbed. Regardless of what we think the outcome was going to be he got robbed of the opportunity and any possibility. He was robbed of his right to finish the round, robbed of his right to finish the fight and robbed of his chance to win. Regardless if that chance was great or slim it was taken away from him.
A rematch is a necessity.
This was the best I’ve ever seen DeMarcus Corley and was impressed. I was worried that he may be on the road to journeyman status, but after this fight I do not think so. I think even more so now that he is a definite player.
Miguel Cotto will learn a lot from this fight. This was the first time he was ever in trouble, he handled it very well and now he knows what that’s like. This has been his hardest fight to date and his gains will be great because of it. This experience will make him a better fighter.
Soon he will be leaving the Light Welterweight division. He just won’t be able to keep the 140-pound limit. For this fight he weighed in at 140, but on fight night was 157 pounds. He is only 24 years old and has an amazing career ahead of him and will be involved in some of the greatest bouts ever put together.
Here’s a statement I’ve never made before. I’ve alluded to it, used it generally but never specifically. I have never made this claim about a fighter, but feel compelled to now:
Miguel Cotto is without a doubt the best fighter pound for pound fighting today. That’s right – pound for pound the best fighting today. He is a gathering storm and rainy season is still a long ways off.
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