Pedro Diaz And Team Cotto: Miguel Cotto Chose Austin Trout To Prove How Good He Still Is

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    Miguel Cotto’s Resurgence is credited to Pedro Diaz

    When the news broke not too long ago that Austin “No Doubt” Trout was selected as Miguel Cotto’s opponent for his December 1st date at Madison Square Garden, most people were surprised and shocked. Reason being, Miguel Cotto has always been on record that he’s just wanted the big names, the money fights. Austin Trout is a very good boxer but at this point in his career, is neither of the two. In fact, he is the opposite of what Team Cotto had said they wanted, he is the typical high risk fight, a fight that Cotto could lose and deny him of those big fights and big paydays, Miguel so desires.

    However, speaking to Cotto’s trainer, he explained to us on ThaBoxingVoice.com why exactly Team Cotto chose Trout as their next opponent. “Miguel (Cotto) has always told the world he wanted to fight the best; that has never changed. He’s (Trout) an undefeated world champion, Austin Trout is one of the best. He’s American, a very good boxer, and all around solid opponent for Miguel,” Pedro Diaz told ThaBoxingVoice.com in Spanish.

    Diaz has known Miguel since he was 17 in the Pan-American games in Colombia when he was in charge of the Cuban amateur team. To him, Miguel has always been an elite boxer and feels he shouldn’t be getting all the praise for what some say; resurrecting Miguel Cotto’s career. “I’m an apprentice of boxing, I’m always learning. It was a team effort, Miguel has always been elite, we just tweaked some things to make Miguel even better, and I can’t take all the credit. Miguel is a boxer with many great qualities and great intelligence and is a great technician. All I did was to try and discover things he had that weren’t brought out by the other trainers. So we’re just trying to bring the best of something he already had inside of him,” stated Diaz.

    Among the things he is trying to bring out of Miguel now, is a new found stamina to finish fights off close to as he started them. Conditioning was one of those aspects of Cotto’s game that many say needed vast improvement. Diaz confirmed that they will be training in high altitude and why it was not done before this fight. “High altitude is proven to improve the conditioning of boxers. It will allow Miguel to perform and recover better. It wasn’t used for the Margarito or the Mayweather fight because Miguel is on a schedule in his regiment and he just wasn’t ready for something like that. So we gradually had to get him to this point, and now he is ready. We just want to improve his conditioning and his abilities so he can go 12 rounds plus throwing hard punches.  It’s only to better his condition, so he doesn’t need to rest in fights and so he can finish fights off stronger.”

    One must figure that Miguel is going to be fully prepared for this fight and is getting ready for a fight that will test all his abilities as a boxer and maybe this is why this step is being taken. One would also figure that Miguel intends to continually fight the best, regardless of the name. “Cotto is fighting more and fighting the best in his division and not all about money fights. We just love to fight the best, that’s what we love. We looked for an undefeated world champion and that’s what we have in front of us.”

    Still, this is boxing and it comes a point and time when you’re name is so big that you can take an easier interim fight before you land that mega fight as Cotto has done in the past with the two Margarito fights, the Pacquiao fight, and most recently the Mayweather fight. Some columnists tended to agree with Bob Arum that Cotto was looking for an easy fight instead of fighting Pacquiao. Some would say he was looking for an easier fight before a possible mega-showdown with ‘Canelo” Alvarez next year. But this isn’t an easy fight. In fact, this a fight Miguel Cotto can lose. He’s facing a taller, bigger, fresher 154lber in Austin Trout. Certainly Trout is fresher than the Margarito version Cotto fought in December and bigger than Miguel Cotto’s last opponent in Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

    To Diaz however, none of that matters because he says, “All boxers that have fought with Miguel were 154lbers lately. Margarito was 154lber.  Mayweather may not have been natural 154lber but his skill level is so good that whatever he lacked in weight, he made up greatly in skill.”  

    K9 Bundrage could be seen as a much older, smaller, and maybe more vulnerable opponent for Cotto who some may say is a more recognized name than Trout. Bundrage also has another alphabet title. None of that mattered to Team Cotto when it came to the opponent. “Certainly Bundrage was looked at as an opponent. However, Austin is an undefeated fighter with great ability and makes good fights, and he’s the exact boxer we feel we can show how good Miguel really is. All the advantages make it better for us in victory. He’s a southpaw, fast, taller, bigger; it makes us challenge ourselves, it will makes us better. There is no easy fight but it’s that much better in victory.”

    With other possible big fights looming should Cotto win like a Canelo Alvarez, A Floyd Mayweather rematch, and even possibly a Sergio Martinez fight. Things are very clear to Diaz. “In boxing all things are possible. Size isn’t everything when it comes to some of those fights. Right now we’re focused on Austin. In our mind, we don’t think we’re going to lose. We’re going to make everything right, after we win, we’ll think of what’s next because any fighter can lose but we’re not expecting to.”

     

    For Full Audio of This Interview Click Here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/09/23/pedro-diaz-joe-cortez-and-tony-weeks