Money Making Armando’s prediction For: Miguel Cotto vs. Delvin Rodriguez

After almost a year-long hiatus from the sport, multiple division champion and Puerto Rican superstar, Miguel Angel Cotto , returns to the ring this weekend to headline on HBO opposite the Dominican Republic’s,  Delvin Rodriguez .  The bout will be the night’s main attraction, live from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, giving both men an equally divided up type of home field.  It’s also the first of many significant boxing cards in October; a month filled with weekend after weekend of high profile matches were various Top Rank promoted stars will come out to shine.  This Saturday is the first of those assorted battles and here are two simple reasons along with the most current odds as to why Miguel Cotto should come out victorious for this 12-round affair.

Caliber of Opposition 

The Miguel Cotto (37-4 w/30 Kos) resume is drenched with a list of the who’s who in boxing when it comes to some of the most recognizable, exciting and significant fighters spanning the last decade.  The New York resident was the first to hand pro defeats to then previously unbeaten fighters; Ricardo Torres, Paulie Malignaggi, Carlos Quintana and Yuri Foreman. Cotto has also triumphed with stoppages over hard hitting punchers in Randall Bailey, Demarcus Corley, Zab Judah and Antonio Margartio.  Lastly, he has squared off with future Hall of Fame fighters in “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather; defeating Shane, taking Mayweather the distance in Floyd’s toughest fight and coming 1 round short of doing the same with Manny.  

In comparison, the flatness in Delvin Rodiguez’ (28-6-3 w/16 Kos) resume is rather unavoidable when looking over his opponents.  The top 3 fighters on his resume read: Ashley Theophane, Pawel Wolak and Austin trout. Coincidentally, Austin is a former champion that both Cotto and Rodriguez have faced  yet, both men lost to Trout by unanimous decision. In the Pawel Wolak fights, Rodriguez first earned a draw and then in the rematch was able to outwork Wolak to capture a unanimous decision. Lastly, fans might remember Ashley Theophane from last month’s  Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez PPV event in Las Vegas as  Theophane was one half of the opening bout. When Rodriguez met Theophane in 2010, he lost a majority decision over the course of 10 rounds.

Experience In The Ring

If Miguel Cotto’s caliber of competition didn’t clearly outshine Delvin Rodriguez cast’ of opponents, then the amount of knowledge and experience acquired throughout their respective career paths favor the Boricua. There isn’t anything that Cotto has not seen already and won’t see coming on October 5^th inside of that squared circle and he will undoubtedly be hunting for a big win as the ultimate gift on his birthday month. Lucrative matches against Juan Manuel Marquez and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez await him in the not too distant future, so expect to see a well-rested Cotto break out his bag of tricks against Rodriguez. Realistically, Rodriguez comes in with slightly more momentum seeing as how his last outing saw him stop Freddy Hernandez before the distance this past March but a veteran like Cotto, thrives when rejuvenated and his absence following last December’s loss to Trout was just what the doctor ordered.  Adding to Cotto’s comfort in big fights, promotions and headlining events, the multi-time champion and part time promoter himself has enlisted boxing coach extraordinaire, Freddie Roach, as head trainer.  This subtle tweak can only further enhances the Cotto Camp giving his corner the sharpest eyes possible tomorrownight.

In conclusion, this match is intentionally set just before the scheduling of big fights featuring Brandon Rios, Manny Pacquiao, Mike Alvarado, Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez for a reason, and that is to see Miguel Cotto possibly drop back down to welterweight in order to meet the most beneficially compatible of these men in hopes of headlining a successful PPV next summer.  Cotto moving back down to his old stomping grounds is never out of the question and with super fights lined up for him in the foreseeable future , this will only become further incentive for him to dominate Rodriguez in Florida tomorrow evening.

Prediction: If Delvin Rodriguez (+400) can fight tall, stick the jab, give his man tons of lateral movement and explode with combinations in the middle of the ring, he has a legitimate chance of upsetting the highly favored Miguel Cotto (-600). However, if he could do that on a regular performance basis, then he wouldn’t be such an underdog in this match.  After regrouping following a 9-month mini vacation, Cotto returns to his winning ways in order to capture unanimous decisions in Florida tomorrow live on HBO.