Miguel Cotto

Miguel Cotto (38-4) looked like anything but a fighter at the end of his proverbial boxing rope on Saturday. The Puerto Rican legend knocked out Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3) in spectacular fashion at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

The end came in the third round on a thunderous left hook that sent Rodriguez to the canvas like a ton of bricks. Referee Frank Santore stopped the fight almost as soon as Rodriguez fell, but the 33-year-old Dominican probably wouldn't have beat the 10-count without Santore's intervention.

Rodriguez had been rocked to his core at the end of the second round by a right-left combination. He didn't appear to have regained his wherewithal in the third before Cotto was on top of him again.

The stoppage win was the 31st of Cotto's Hall of Fame career. It raised his KO percentage to .738 and further established him as one of the sport's most devastating punchers of this era.

After suffering two straight losses for the first time in his career, this was the type of win Cotto needed. He was in fantastic shape, and thanks to his reunion with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, his aggressive, power-punching style had returned.

Cotto set up his win with hard body shots, and he appropriately changed levels once he was inside. He didn't settle for throwing one punch at a time. He instead featured crisp and accurate combinations that turned out to be Rodriguez's undoing.

To put things in the proper perspective, Rodriguez was no world-beater. That said, Cotto handled him the way a legitimate title contender and elite fighter should. He outclassed Rodriguez in every way.

There is no reason Cotto shouldn't be in line to challenge champions or elite fighters at 154 and 160 pounds—as long as their names aren't Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Austin Trout.

This win will certainly increase the attractiveness of a Cotto-Canelo Alvarez bout. The two could put on a spirited fight, and it would, of course, be another installment of the infinite Mexican-Puerto Rican boxing rivalry.

We'll see where Cotto goes from here, but it's clear he's still a force to be reckoned with.

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If boxing is "dead" as they say, no one told the fall months of 2013.

Starting with Floyd Mayweather's sound defeat of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the MGM Grand on Sept. 14, the sport has been in the national spotlight for a longer period than in recent memory.

Not always for great things, mind you. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s win over Bryan Vera was the latest embarrassment for a sport that's become rife with judging controversies. 

But still, boxing was helping carry a national sports conversation that includes an NFL season revving up, the MLB playoffs, college football and the beginning of the NHL season. 

It's a conversation that will continue on Saturday evening, when Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs) makes his return to the ring against Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs) in a non-title HBO event. Cotto is fighting for the first time since his loss to Austin Trout last December, while Rodriguez has already scored two TKO victories this year since his own 2012 loss to Trout.

Cotto and Rodriguez are, in some ways, fighting for their careers.

A loss on Saturday would give Cotto three straight defeats in a 17-month span, during which he's precipitously dropped down pound-for-pound lists. Rodriguez is once again looking to break past the glass ceiling of his middling reputation among both lay fans and hardcore boxing aficionados. 

Cotto comes in as a heavy favorite at minus-600 odds, per Bovada. But if we've learned anything since a judge scored the Mayweather fight a draw, it's that anything can happen in boxing.

With that in mind, here is a complete breakdown of how you can watch Saturday night's fight and a key to victory for both fighters.

Fight Information

Time: Undercard begins at 9:45 p.m. ET

Date: Saturday, Oct. 5

TV Info: HBO

Key for Cotto: Be Aggressive Toward the Body

Everyone knows what's on the line here for Cotto. A little more than a year ago, he was fighting Mayweather for a shot at immortality. Now he's one more loss away from some very likely calls for his retirement.

That's sobering for someone of Cotto's relatively young age. But he's been through some of the most grueling pugilistic endeavors I've ever seen during his career; he's 32 going on 52 sometimes.

It's also no secret that he is at a significant size disadvantage. Rodriguez stands more than three inches taller than Cotto at 5'10.5" and has a 70-inch reach compared to Cotto's 67 inches. The three-inch reach doesn't seem like an overwhelming disadvantage at first. It could be a lot worse.

More than anything, though, Rodriguez's size plays to his style as a technician. He likes keeping opponents at a distance, using a succession of jabs and crosses before coming on later in the fight. It's a Mayweather-lite strategy, if you're into those sort of analogies. 

The key for Cotto, then, will be to subvert those tactics. The Puerto Rican has built his career around being the aggressor, knocking his opponents down and out with power combinations and perfectly timed counterpunches.

He'll need to make it clear from the outset that Rodriguez isn't going to dictate the pace of the fight. Getting inside and striking solid blows to the body early will serve multiple purposes. Cotto will score points with the judges by landing punches, and he'll slow down Rodriguez and possibly set up the KO shot to the head if Rodriguez gets too comfortable protecting his body.

There is no way Cotto wins if the pace is deliberate. He would share the same fate as he did against Mayweather and Trout. Getting inside position on Rodriguez is easier said than done—it's often a recipe for quick jabs if done incorrectly—but finding a weak spot and scoring early rounds will go a long way toward getting Cotto back into the conversation about elite fighters.

Key for Rodriguez: Do Not Get Overwhelmed By the Big Stage

At age 33, Rodriguez won't have many more opportunities like this one should he lose on Saturday. For some fans, his biggest claim to fame prior to fighting Cotto was either being Trout's whipping boy last year or being a regular fixture on Friday Night Fights. 

This isn't someone with a long, storied career filled with pay-per-view bouts. Taking on Cotto is an audition for Rodriguez to enter a different strata of boxing—to get title opportunities and, more importantly, the increased riches that come along with them.

How will he handle the opportunity this time around? It remains to be seen. For Rodriguez or any fighter of his caliber to say there isn't a level of nerves that comes along with last chances, he would be lying. I'm not sure whether his discomfort against Trout was more a testament to the former's uptick in class of opponent or the latter's ascent.

What I do know, however, is that Rodriguez can't have any nerves against Cotto. The worst possible trait to have against an aggressive fighter of Cotto's ilk is the absence of confidence. He'll pick that weakness apart early and start pummeling Rodriguez with a series of power punches.

Tentativeness to the aggressive pugilist is akin to throwing your pet goldfish into the ocean with chum and then getting angry when a great white eats it. 

We already have a good idea of how Rodriguez will try to win the fight. He'll look to land a higher percentage of his punches, control the tempo and use his reach to slowly but surely capture the scorecards. He's a far more methodical fighter than Cotto. But there's a difference between coming out with a conservative strategy and delving deep into a shell that lasts the entire fight.

If Rodriguez can stick Cotto with a couple of jabs early and then come on strong as the night progresses, we could see an upset here. If he never turns on the jets, he may not even make it to the scorecards. 

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Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin are clearly the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the middleweight division, but an aging, injury-prone Martinez is looking for his biggest paydays in his final fights.

While Golovkin's immense power and relentlessness has resulted in 14 knockouts in a row, he's a long way from being the pay-per-view (PPV) draw Martinez needs to secure his retirement.

Enter Miguel Cotto.

Cotto is a smaller fighter than Golovkin, but a giant at the box office.

Cotto's 2012 fight with Floyd Mayweather sold 1.5 million PPV buys, the second highest number for a boxing event not headlined by a heavyweight.

Mayweather's next fight against Robert Guerrero struggled to reach a million buys. Cotto's absence was clearly felt.

Cotto's rematch against Antonio Margarito in December of 2011 was the last time Cotto was the "A-side" of a PPV. He sold north of 600,000 buys. That's 600,000 reasons for Martinez to go after him.

Martinez has already confirmed via Ovacion Online, an Argentinean online sports publication, talks between his camp and Cotto's are ongoing for a fight in March or April of 2014.

Martinez could potentially be seen as picking on a smaller, less riskier fighter in Cotto, and fans have to remember that Martinez has injured his right knee two fights in a row.

While Martinez is not the most defensive fighter, he relies on his movement to keep from receiving more punishment than he already does.

And at 38 years old, Martinez is certainly no spring chicken. Injuries and age could give Cotto the chance to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win a world title in four weight classes.

If there was any doubt Cotto was a Hall Famer before, this accomplishment would all but guarantee it.

So while Golovkin works his way through a line of opposition to become a big draw, Martinez vs. Cotto would be a big fight that could give more insight as to how much Martinez has left in the tank.

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After the once-dominant Manny Pacquiao suffered two straight losses in 2012, a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather super showdown went out the window with them. Although nothing could help cement each fighters legacy more than a win over one another, Mayweather's proposed 2013 plans will still boost his legacy as his career winds down.

Mayweather has not officially named who he will fight in 2013, but it is widely speculated that he will meet the interim WBC welterweight title holder Robert Guerrero on May 4. If successful against Guerrero, then a showdown with one of boxing's top rising stars, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, will follow in September (per BoxingScene.com).

Alvarez is also speculated to fight on the same May 4 card as Mayweather, likely against Miguel Cotto or Austin Trout, and will need to be victorious as well in order for the September showdown to take place.

Mayweather choosing a tough, seasoned opponent in Guerrero and a fighter thought by many to be one of the faces of boxing once Mayweather and Pacquiao are retired in Alvarez as his next opponents is a great thing for the legacy that many fans question.

If Mayweather can come out on top in both speculated bouts this year, then his legacy will receive a big boost, and he could retire at the end of the year and easily be known as his generation's best.

This is in contrast to Pacquiao, who is said to be fighting an April tuneup bout before taking on Juan Manuel Marquez in September for a fifth time (per BoxingScene.com).

Even if Pacquiao is victorious against Marquez in a possible fifth bout, then the series will be right back where it was before Marquez's vicious knockout of Pacquiao—an even series.

Pacquiao fighting Marquez for a fifth time will only help Mayweather's case that he is his generation's best pound-for-pound fighter, leaving Pacquiao behind in a distant second.

Mayweather is almost set to face Robert Guerrero on May 4, according to Boxing Scene. Guerrero is the ultimate good guy. He came up the hard way facing tough opposition in four weight classes.

Then he took time off from boxing to stand by his wife as she went through a bout with cancer. Guerrero has a story that can capture the world once it's told in promotional videos, but where's the starpower?

Floyd Mayweather can sell a fight by himself, but he'll need additional starpower to break pay-per-view (PPV) records.

Enter Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.

Last year, Mayweather-Cotto sold 1.5 million PPVs to become the second highest grossing PPV that wasn't headlined by a heavyweight, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

The undercard just so happened to feature one of the previous generation's most popular fighters in Shane Mosley going against the hottest sensation in Mexico, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

Alvarez-Mosley could have been sold on its own as a PPV, but was paired with Mayweather-Cotto to add another level to the event. Instead of one fight serving as an event, the whole PPV was the event.

With all the money that was made the first time around, wouldn't all those involved want to do it again?

Now, after losing two matches in a row by unanimous decision to Mayweather and undefeated young fighter Austin Trout, Cotto looks vulnerable enough to make a fight with Alvarez interesting.

Cotto representing Puerto Rico and Alvarez representing Mexico serves to increase the promotional potential. The fight is promoted using one of the biggest rivalries sports: Mexico vs. Puerto Rico.

Those two countries love their boxers and will gladly pay for the PPV just to see Cotto and Canelo get in the ring. Pairing Mayweather-Guerrero and Cotto-Canelo only increases the PPV's selling potential.

Moves like this are also good for the sport as fans get better overall fight cards for their money by having at least two highly eventful fights they care about from jumpstreet.

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If you expected Miguel Cotto's decisive defeat on Saturday night to end any discussion of a potential fight with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in May then you were wrong.

Dead wrong.

And if you expected Austin Trout to get the spoils of his victory over Cotto in the form of a match with Alvarez, you were equally wrong.

In short, this is what is wrong with boxing today. 

It's no longer about making the best fights. It's about making the most money possible. That's why the product suffers and fans walk away.

Sitting at the post-fight press conference the other night in Madison Square Garden, you got a distinct sense that Golden Boy Promotions was still hyping a potential Canelo-Cotto matchup.

It was evident in their attempts to create faux outrage over the scoring, which was 100-percent accurate, and with their ludicrous assertions that this was some sort of close fight.

It wasn't. Miguel Cotto lost clearly. He got beaten by a man who (at least that night) was the better fighter, and he doesn't belong in a ring with Canelo Alvarez.

But listening to Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, who handles Alvarez, you'd never get that impression. He told ESPN after the fight:

Definitely [Canelo-Cotto] is still a possibility. We will talk to Miguel and see what he wants to do. Miguel is an exciting fighter. He always gives a great show, entertaining the fans. Sure, you always want to win more than lose, but I still think that Cotto-Alvarez is a very good matching of styles and it would be a great fight

This sums up pretty well something that become a frequent criticism of Alvarez in recent years—that he is protected and has yet to fight a true junior middleweight.

And you'd have a very hard time dismissing that claim. Alvarez has a fair amount of good names on his resume, but nobody you'd consider either in their prime or a true junior middleweight.

Most recently he fought Josesito Lopez, who two fights previously was at junior welterweight, a full 14 pounds below the 154-pound limit.

Before that, it was Shane Mosley, a great fighter at 135 and 147 pounds in his prime, who was at least three years past his best and had lost two of his previous three fights.

And before that it was Kermit Cintron, again a decent welterweight who had lost two of his last three fights at 154 pounds before facing Alvarez.

Even those without a keen eye for detective work can spot a trend developing here.

In facing Miguel Cotto in May, Alvarez would find himself in there with a great champion at welterweight who is past his best and who has lost two fights in a row. 

See the point?

You can come to many different conclusions about Alvarez at this stage based on his opponent selection.

One reasonable theory concludes that Alvarez is extremely protected and the people at Golden Boy Promotions are not willing to place him in there with a fighter they feel can beat him and derail a potential fight with Floyd Mayweather next year. 

They took that risk with Cotto by placing him in there with Austin Trout, and look how that ended. And this theory is buoyed by comments that Schaefer made to ESPN regarding the possibility of a Canelo-Trout matchup:

I don't think one fight in itself gives you a big, big fight. It's an accumulation of things you do. I really don't see that happening. But again at the end of the day it's not up to me. I think maybe have Austin Trout do a few more big fights

On its face, this doesn't pass the smell test.

For one thing, Austin Trout just won a big fight. And he did it in the most hostile of possible environments you'll find in boxing.

For another, the idea that the man who just won the fight, and convincingly, should lose out to the guy who got beaten is counter-intuitive. 

But it does give you some insight into the handling of Alvarez's career. All you need to do is compare the relative merits of fighting each guy.

Austin Trout holds the WBA junior middleweight championship. He's undefeated, coming off the decisive win over Cotto and would represent a chance to unify belts in the division. 

Even with his win, he's still a newcomer to the mainstream boxing world but would satisfy many of the criticisms against Canelo should he face him and win.

This fight also produces an interesting angle—revenge—as Trout won his WBA title by going to Mexico and defeating Canelo's older brother Rigoberto.

Miguel Cotto is a warrior and a surefire Hall of Famer. He's coming off consecutive losses—convincingly against Mayweather and now Trout—and seems to be on the downslide. 

He's still a huge name in the sport with a rabid fanbase that would absolutely tune in to see what could be his final fight. 

But he's no longer close to the biggest challenge Alvarez faces in his own weight division. That was clearly shown this past Saturday.

From a financial standpoint, which is, after all, the reason almost everyone is in boxing, the Cotto fight still makes sense.

But a win over Cotto would do absolutely nothing at this point to enhance Canelo's career. It will be dismissed, and rightfully so, as coming over yet another blown-up welterweight who has already seen his best days.

It will feed into the perception that the people at Golden Boy know something the rest of us don't, but many suspect—that they're steering him clear of real challenges so he doesn't get exposed.

And that may or may not be true.

But as long as they continue to peddle these fights to the public—and dismiss better ones—this criticism will not go away.

Want to make it go away? Face Austin Trout, the guy who won the fight.

After Saturday night's impressive, and somewhat shocking, domination of Miguel Cotto, many boxing fans will be calling for an Austin Trout and Saul "Canleo" Alvarez matchup. 

While Trout has certainly earned a shot at the redheaded Mexican wonder-boy, don't expect to see that fight anytime soon.

At the post-fight presser a seemingly agitated Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, mentioned a possible matchup between the two, but he seemed more interested in trying to salvage a Cotto fight for May 4, 2013.

Cotto and Alvarez can still be a big fight for Cinco De Mayo weekend, but at this point it has lost a lot of its luster after Cotto's thorough domination at the hands of the somewhat unknown "regular" WBA super welterweight titleholder.

Cotto may want to think long and hard before making any decision on whether or not he will fight again. 

With that being said, I firmly believe that Cotto will fight Alvarez for his WBC title in what will most likely be, and should be, his last fight near the top of the sport.

Trout said at the post-fight press conference that he would like to return to the ring in February, and then again in May, which is refreshing to hear these days considering most of the elite fighters in the sport only fight once or twice a year. 

The question now is who will Trout fight next or who will be willing to fight him?

Trout is advised by the Oz of boxing, Al Haymon, so he will definitely be back on one of the major networks soon and should hopefully start making Haymon-esque paydays.

I don't believe a fight with "super" WBA champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an option as both men are Haymon fighters, not to mention Floyd will most likely be fighting Robert Guerrero after his punishing win over Andre Berto last month. 

It won't be IBF titleholder Cornelius "K9" Bundrage either, as I have a feeling he will likely be fighting Ishe Smith in early 2013.

Zaurbek Baysangurov, the WBO titleholder, is another fighter who most likely isn't interested in facing Trout, as he has never fought outside of the former Soviet Union.

With the chances of a title unification fight highly unlikely, I believe that Trout will most likely face a fighter from the Golden Boy stable due to the close working relationship between Haymon and the promoter.

If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Trout facing either Alfredo Angulo or James Kirkland some time in February or early March of 2013.

Michael Walters is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.

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