MARK MY WORDS: Cotto-Canelo Will Surpass the (Lack Of) Hype

Both these guys have told us that really, this is a big one, but it’s sorta just another fight.

Yeah…really?

Mexico vs. Puerto Rico..immense financial stakes…Miguel Cotto maybe nearing the end of the road…Canelo Alvarez needing a win to live up to the hyping he’s getting.

But, yeah, just another day at the office?

Part of that is temperament; neither man bangs the drums for the sake of the bigger picture, that being helping to sell the event. Yeah, you won’t find two more vanilla A sides being paired together…and this is a reason why we see and hear some grumbling, that Roc Nation isn’t pulling their weight on the wagon, that maybe the promotion for this super-clash isn’t as effective as some would hope, and therefore, maybe the numbers won’t overwhelm.

Cotto was vanilla, but added sprinkles of fire, for him, when he chatted with HBO’s Keiran Mulvaney on “grand arrival day.”

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“I prepare myself for war, I prepare for regular fight, I expect the same for Canelo,” he said.

Yep, another day at the office.

He came back to a continuing theme, that being his working with Freddie Roach is his primary weapon. Roach has inspired him and put together the game plan to down the young gun, he said. Interesting to chew on this; how much of boxing has to do with the skills and will of the fighter..and how much credit can go to a trainer for a win, ultimately?

The Mexican, he doesn’t talk in TMZ-ready chunks either. He spoke to Mulvaney, and his tone, too, was steady as she goes.

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On Tuesday, at Mandalay Bay, in Spanish, he said he’s wanted Cotto for three years, but “it couldn’t come at a better moment.”

Today, he’s got an edge in preparation, and, he thinks, he’s the “more intelligent” fighter. He will know he’s fighting for his country, and that will give him extra oomph.

Prediction? “I’ve prepared myself very well to win, and at the end of the fight, my hand will be raised.”

Vanilla, not even a hint of sprinkles…

My take: Pay no attention to the business reporters posing as boxing writers totally fixated on numbers, and how this fight will do on PPV. That’s part of our national obsession with numbers as a gauge of success, and it does us no favors…because it keeps us from focusing on the real import of the event. That being, the fight itself. The actual combat will be intense, will be back and forth, the electricity in the joint will be properly eardrum shattering…this is a super-fight, even if the two clashers are not super successful at communicating why this will be so.

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