Tag Archives: Cota

Posted on 06/21/2019

By: William Holmes

On Sunday night the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada will be the host site for Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions Fight card to be televised live on Fox.

The main event of the evening will between Jermell Charlo and Jorge Cota in the junior middleweight division. The co-main event of the evening will be between former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux and Julio Ceja in a WBC Junior Featherweight Eliminator.

The undercard features fighters such as Joey Spencer, Alberto Mercado, Jesus Ramos, Leduan Barthelemy, and Ryan Karl.

The following is a preview of the co-main event and main event of the evening.

Guillermo Rigondeaux (18-1) vs. Julio Ceja (32-3); Junior Featherweight Division

Guillermo Rigondeaux was once considered a pound for pound great, but a loss to Vasily Lomachenko in 2017 affected his status on the pound for pound list.

At thirty eight years old he’s clearly past his prime, and is twelve years older than his opponent. However, Rigondeaux will have about a four and a half inch reach advantage but will be giving up an inch in height.

Rigondeaux has twelve stoppage wins on his resume while Ceja has twenty eight stoppage victories. Rigondeaux only loss was by stoppage to Vasily Lomachenko, Ceja has been stopped twice in his career.

Ceja is the younger brother of Luis Ceja but has no notable amateur experience. Rigondeaux is a two time Olympic Gold Medalist and is considered by many to be an all time amateur great.

Rigondeaux bounced back from his defeat to Lomachenko by defeating Giovanni Delgado quite easily. Other notable opponents include James Dickens, Drian Francisco, Joseph Agbeko, Nonito Doniare, Roberto Marroquin, and Teon Kennedy.

Ceja notable wins include Anselmo Moreno and Hugo Ruiz. His losses were to Jamie McDonnell, Hugo Ruiz, and a loss in his last fight to a 17-4 Franklin Manzanilla.

Even though Rigondeaux is getting older, he’s still a technical wizard, and should have no problems getting past Ceja.

Jermell Charlo (31-1) vs. Jorge Cota (28-3); Junior Middleweight Division

Jermell Charlo’s career hit an unexpected speed bump when he lost his last bout to Tony Harrison in a close upset.

However, many felt he did enough to win that fight and he’s still a top rated contender.

On Sunday he’ll be facing Jorge Cota, a contender that also lost his last bout, but it was against a relative unknown in Jeison Rosario.

Charlo is two years younger than his opponent, but both will be about the same height with about the same reach. Cota actually appears to have an edge in power as he has stopped twenty five of his opponents while Charlo has only stopped fiftee, but Cota’s resume is littered with low level opposition.

Charlo has beaten the likes of Austin Trout, Erickson Lubin, Charles Hatley, John Jackson, Vanes Martirosyan, Gabriel Rosado, and Harry Joe Yorgey. He has been fairy active and fought twice in 2018 and twice in 2017.

Cota’s notable wins include Yudel Jhonson and Euri Gonzalez. His other two losses were to Erickson Lubin and Marco Antonio Rubio. Cota fought once in 2019, once in 2018, and three times in 2017.

Charlo also has a clear edge in amateur experience as he was a bronze medalist in the Junior Olympics.

Cota has an impressive knockout ratio, but he has to defeat any top rated contenders and lost to fighters that many would expect Charlo to beat easily.

Charlo is expected to breeze through this fight.

Posted on 03/04/2017

Pbc on CBS Results: Thurman Bests Garcia, Lubin Stops Cota
By: Sean Crose

The biggest fight on network television in decades went down Saturday night at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. WBA welterweight champ Danny Garcia took on his WBC welterweight peer Keith Thurman in a unification battle of undefeated titlists.

Photo Credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME

The opening bout featured Jorge Cota 23-1 against rising star Erickson Lubin 17-0. The first round started off tentative with neither man showing a willingness to let loose. The second showed each man trading a bit, but the battle remained close. Lubin landed with purpose in the third and in the early fourth Cota was on his bicycle. It did him no good. A single left hook sent Cota down and out at around the halfway point of the round.

After a small eternity – which isn’t good for a network broadcast – it was time for the main event. The crowd was clearly behind Philadelphia’s Garcia, 33-0, but Clearwater, Flordia’s Thurman, 27-0-1, appeared cool as ice. The first round was pretty explosive with both men landing exceedingly hard. Thurman was aggressive from the opening bell, but Garcia held his own.

Thurman was aggressive in the second, as well, but Garcia was able to land hard and was also able to maintain his cool. Garcia subtly became more aggressive in the third and Thurman began slowing down his output. In the fourth Thurman was able to glide through at the end, though Garcia was striking the body well. Thurman controlled the fifth for the most part, but Garcia came on strong at the end.

Garcia landed hard and with frequency in the sixth, taking the round. Thurman grinded his way through the seventh, a round where Garcia was warned for low blows. Thurman continued to dominate through the eighth, but Garcia was still very much in the bout. Thruman ruled the tenth and looked to be pulling away. Not that it was an easy affair for the Clearwater native. Garcia slugged his way into taking the tenth.

Thurman cruised through the eleventh…perhaps too much. I had him winning the round by the skin of his teeth, but it may well have gone either way. It was time for the final three minutes. Garcia landed enough that I gave him the last chapter. Still, it appeared that Thurman had done enough to take the fight by a comfortable margin.

Needless to say, Thurman won by split decision. It was fair, but the fight was indeed close. Garcia was game, but came up short. Thurman looked excellent.

Posted on 03/02/2017

PBC on CBS Preview: Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia, Erickson Lubin vs. Jorge Cota
By: William Holmes

On Saturday night one of the best fights that could be made in the welterweight division will happen at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia will meet to unify the WBA and WBC welterweight titles.

This is a fight that many fans have been salivating over.

The co-main event of the night will be between Erickson Lubin and Jorge Cota in a WBC Junior Middleweight eliminator. The undercard that will not be shown on CBS will feature high level boxers such as Andrzej Fonfara, Chad Dawson, Mario Barrios, and Heather Hardy.

The following is a preview of the televised CBS card.

Erickson Lubin (17-0) vs. Jorge Cota (25-1); Junior Middleweights

At first glance this fight appears to be a competitive fight.

Both boxers are still relatively young and have good records. Lubin is twenty one years old and eight years younger than Cota, but Cota is still below the age of thirty. Both boxers have very good records with only one loss between them.

However, a closer look reveals that Lubin is the better prospect of the two.

On paper, Cota appears to be the stronger puncher of the two. He has twenty two knockouts for a stoppage ratio of 85%. Lubin has twelve knockouts with a stoppage ratio of 71%. However, Cota has fought nearly his entire career in Mexico against less than stellar opposition.

Cota’s only big win came against Yudel Johnson in 2015, which was his only bout in 2015. Cota had zero bouts in 2016. Cota was defeated by Marco Antonio Rubio.

Lubin has defeated the likes of Juan Ubaldo Cabrera, Ivan Montero, and Daniel Sandoval. Lubin has never tasted defeated and was the 2012 US National Police Athletic League Gold Medalist as well as a former Golden Gloves gold medalist.

Lubin has also been considerably more active than Cota. Cota has only fought once since 2015, while Lubin fought five times in 2015 and four times in 2016.

This is a showcase fight for Lubin to get a win against an opponent with a good record but an empty record.

Keith Thurman (27-0) vs. Danny Garcia (33-0); WBC/WBA Welterweight Titles

Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia will fight to determine who is the best welterweight boxer in the world, outside of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

And maybe outside of Kell Brook and Errol Spence Junior. And maybe outside of Timothy Bradley Jr. and Terence Crawford if he ever decides to make the jump up to 147.

But regardless, this is an excellent fight between two undefeated boxers that are twenty eight years old. They are both known for having some power, as Thurman has stopped twenty two of his opponents and Garcia has stopped eighteen of his opponents.

The winner will have two belts in the division and will also put themselves in a good position to face Floyd Mayweather Jr., if he were to ever end his retirement and not fight a UFC fighter.

Thurman will be giving up about one inch in height to Garcia but will have a slight half an inch reach advantage. Garcia has been slightly more active than Thurman and fought twice in 2016 and in 2015. Thurman fought once in 2016 and twice in 2015.

Both boxers had good national amateur careers. Thurman was a runner up in the US Olympic trials and Garcia was a US National Amateur champion.

Both boxers have an impressive list of defeated opponents. Thurman has defeated the likes of Shawn Porter, Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Leonard Bundu, Jesus Soto Karass, Diego Chavez, Jan Zaveck, and Carlos Quintana. However, Thurman has not had a KO or TKO victory in his past five fights.

Garcia has won three of his past five fights by stoppage and has defeated the likes of Samuel Vargas, Robert Guerrero, Paulie Malignaggi, Lamont Peterson (questionable), Mauricio Herrera (questionable), Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah, Erik Morales, Amir Khan, and Kendall Holt.

This is a tough fight to pick and both boxers have been able to come up on the winning end of some close decisions. Thurman however is more comfortable fighting in the welterweight division and doesn’t have the gift decisions that Garcia has.

It will be a close fight and could go either way, but Thurman has a slight edge going into Saturday night.