Is the real Cotto back?

By: Gabriel Colon

Maybe it was new trainer Emanuel Steward.

Maybe it was being a part of the first fight card at Yankee Stadium since 1978.

Or maybe it was the motivation of fighting for his father who had passed away only a few months prior. Whatever the case, in defeating WBA super welterweight champion Yuri Foreman inside nine rounds, Miguel Cotto did not fight like his was supposed to. After taking severe punishment over the course of the last two years including two destructive TKO losses and a life or death struggle against Joshua Clottey, Cotto was supposed to look like a shop warn fighter. However, rather than take some time off (or even retire), Cotto moved up to the super welterweight division to challenge WBA champion Yuri Foreman.

Foreman, 29, received much attention before the contest, being a rabbinical student born in Belarus before immigrating to Israel and later to New York. But he was not just an opponent with a interesting story. With his height advantage, foot movement, and awkward style, many observers picked Foreman to frustrate a past his prime Cotto and hand him with his third defeat.

Cotto must have not gotten the memo.

Rather than showing the consequences of some of the more brutal fights in recent memory, Cotto shot off his jab effectively, used combinations, defended well, and displayed impressive foot movement of his own, neutralizing Foreman