THE ART OF THE BODY PUNCH

When your Bona Fide Sports Expert was a young lad growing up, he liked to impress people at family gatherings by doing a Michael Jackson "Beat It" impersonation. One time, during a Christmas gathering, in the middle of my MJ spin, I slipped, fell on my stomach and knocked the wind out of me. It felt as if I were dying. I couldn't breathe; I couldn't move; and I was basically paralyzed for seemed like hours, but, in reality, was only about thirty seconds.

So, I can imagine how a boxer feels when, after getting battered around for multiple rounds, he gets hit with the perfect body shot. Can you even imagine the unthinkable pain and agony that must feel like?

Last night, we saw two of the best welterweights on the world destroy their opponents with picture-perfect body punches. Miguel Cotto, who is known for his vicious body attack, just overwhelmed Alfonso Gomez who had no business being in the ring with Cotto. It was a glorified sparring match. Cotto delivered one of the prettiest uppercuts to the body you will ever see. That blow put Gomez down for the 2nd time in the fight. The rest was just academic with the medical staff finally ending the massacre in the 5th round.

More impressive to me, though, was the performance of Antonio Margarito who simply walked down, through and over Kermit Cintron, whom he had knocked out three years previously. There is nothing more dangerous than a boxer who can take his opponent's best shot and just keep coming. That is exactly what Margarito did to Cintron. When Margarito delivered a picture perfect left hook to the body, the shot was so devastating that Cintron was spitting up blood. Now that is a vicious body blow!

While Money Mayweather is out counting his WWE check, Cotto and Margarito are on a collision course that will be worth whatever the PPV price will be.