WE kind of knew how the biggest circus of 2017 would turn out.
Conor McGregor would look like a weight-drained novice.
His punches would be powder-puff.
He wouldn’t have a leg under him after a few rounds with Floyd Mayweather jr and he would leave Las Vegas a very wealthy man.
What their August 26 showdown in the casino capital of the world proved is that it pays to be a loud mouth.
It pays to wear crass, tacky suits and to perfect an exaggerated swagger that screams you own every room you ever walked into.
And then you consider proper fighters like Miguel Cotto who retired from boxing last weekend, aged 37.
The Puerto Rican will be sorely missed on boxing’s big nights.
Cotto was a fighter you couldn’t help but admire in and out of the ring.
Involved in 26 world title bouts in a 47-fight pro career that stretched back to 2001, Cotto never engaged in trash-talking.
He was one of the classiest men ever to lace up a pair of gloves.
He reminded us of what role models are supposed to look and act like.
Last weekend in New York’s famous Madison Square Garden – an arena that became his second home – Cotto looked every day of his 37 years against 13/1 underdog Sadam Ali.
There were give-away signs in nearly every round.
Cotto had an unmistakable style. Head tucked into his chest, furrowed brow, Cotto unleashed vicious hooks and jabs.
He had every punch in the book but arguably his best quality was how he perfected the double left jab.
Before the Ali fight – for the WBO super welterweight belt – Cotto had already announced that it would be his last-ever appearance in the ring.
There would be no encores, no ill-fated comebacks.
And if there were any niggling doubts in his head about his retirement decision, they evaporated in the early throes of the fight.
Cotto plodded forward.
Head tucked into his chest, furrowed brow – but just when he thought he was in punching range and ready to go to work, the fleet-footed Ali was gone.
Ali didn’t have to work too hard either to get out of danger. He was facing a pale shadow of the once great super lightweight and welterweight champion.
And, worse, Ali landed heavy, barely disguised concussive shots at will that had Cotto’s legs dancing on a couple of occasions.
The brutal nature of the sweet science is that you don’t get to choose how your career ends.
Cotto’s ring craft and experience kept him in the fight until the final bell.
The judges, rightly, spared him no sentiment as Ali walked away with the belt and a unanimous victory.
It was a sour note to end on – but his legacy will endure for generations to come.
The mid-noughties were Cotto's peak years.
For 12 one-sided rounds, he showed Paul Malignaggi no mercy before claiming the scalp of his career by taking a points win over ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley who was still a major force in the welterweight division.
In subsequent bouts Cotto, I felt, was desperately unlucky.
Still at the top of his game, he was controversially bludgeoned into an 11th round submission by Antonio Margarito.
The Mexican was later cited for loading his bandages with a substance similar to Plaster of Paris.
No wonder Cotto collapsed to one knee under Margarito’s desperately unfair advantage.
Three years later, Cotto gained revenge on the plodding Mexican, forcing him to retire at the end of the ninth.
In 2009, Manny Pacquiao was scything his way through the ranks.
Much doubt has been cast on the validity of the Filipino’s freakish energy levels and power around that time.
Cotto, who had better boxing skills than Pacquiao, made the fatal mistake of many who went before him: he decided to go toe-to-toe with Pacquaio and paid a bloody price.
Cotto couldn’t reach the final bell and was stopped with 55 seconds remaining in the 12th.
Although Cotto had lost a couple of big fights he was still box office.
In 2012, he got the biggest pay-day of his career by fighting Floyd Mayweather jr and gave the unbeaten welterweight champion his toughest fight since Oscar De La Hoya five years earlier.
It was the first time Mayweather was visibly marked by an opponent even if ‘Pretty Boy’ claimed yet another unanimous points win.
Mayweather fought seven more times but was never put under the pressure that Cotto put him under.
The slippery Austin Trout out-boxed Cotto seven months later and it was at that point the Puerto Rican's star began to dim.
He buzzed around Saul Alvarez two years ago but the Mexican’s greater weight advantage was arguably the deciding factor.
Last Sunday morning in Madison Square Garden made for tough viewing.
Cotto looked every bit the faded champion.
But he will be remembered as one of the greats, a future Hall of Famer without question.
He didn’t get many breaks in the ring at times.
In this tiresome era of trash-talking and bad behaviour being held up as some kind of virtue, Miguel Cotto came from a different era.
He was a throwback to when good conduct and respecting your opponent meant something – a far-cry from these vacuous times where all that matters are tacky suits, dollar bills, stupid swaggers and empty boasts.
