I am yet again surprised at how one sided everyone here thinks the fight was. I am a fan of both guys, in fact I picked Canelo by close UD, so got the result fairly accurate.
Why do so many of you get influenced by commentary? I wish more of you had a brain of your own. This was a close fight, why? Because when Cotto boxed especially early, Canelo couldn't do anything about it. Landing one or two flashy counters doesn't win rounds, Cotto was more consistent, outworked, and jabbed Canelo's head off in certain rounds. In other rounds he didn't do enough especially later in the fight, although I still gave Cotto a round or two in the second half of the fight. I implore you to watch the fight again if you think it was one sided.
Cotto made a mistake in the 8th round by standing and trading, but I think he only did that because he was comfortable at that point in the fight and I think he wanted to test Canelo in the trenches, he got his answer, which was that it was not a good place for him to be as for the first time he genuinely got out punched and stung a little. I think as Cotto tired, what was effective boxing in the first 6, looked more negative and less effective in the last 6. But Canelo was still not so effective. I remember thinking in about the 5th round, if this kid ever wants to be great he needs to put his foot on the accelerator right now...it never came. He could only do what Cotto allowed him to do, Cotto was in a fight with his own gas tank, yes he occasionally had defensive lapses and Canelo picked some great single shots, some counters and some leads, undoubtedly the harder shots, but Cotto was more consistent and quite often answered those singles with combinations. I had the fight even going into the last, which Canelo won and gave him the fight on my card, but I am so disappointed with his performance. He doesn't know how to force the issue and take control of the fight, he has all the moves, pull counters, good jab, lead uppercuts, great right hand, literally everything in his arsenal, yet he can't put any of it together. He got outboxed for large portions.
The other point I wanted to make was that everything stunk about the night. The scorecards, the HBO commentary, even the teleprompter showing the replays. It felt like the result was preordained and Cotto would have to dominate to get a split decision. It might seem like I am defending Cotto, and "butthurt" about the result, I can assure you I am not. Just really disappointed about the politics in the sport, again. No matter what happened before the fight, sanctioning bodies, belts, step aside money, the competition should be fair and just. As I said Cotto was never going to be allowed to win that fight, I thought the scorecards were a disgrace, an embarrassment to a very good fight and soured it once again for me.
Why do so many of you get influenced by commentary? I wish more of you had a brain of your own. This was a close fight, why? Because when Cotto boxed especially early, Canelo couldn't do anything about it. Landing one or two flashy counters doesn't win rounds, Cotto was more consistent, outworked, and jabbed Canelo's head off in certain rounds. In other rounds he didn't do enough especially later in the fight, although I still gave Cotto a round or two in the second half of the fight. I implore you to watch the fight again if you think it was one sided.
Cotto made a mistake in the 8th round by standing and trading, but I think he only did that because he was comfortable at that point in the fight and I think he wanted to test Canelo in the trenches, he got his answer, which was that it was not a good place for him to be as for the first time he genuinely got out punched and stung a little. I think as Cotto tired, what was effective boxing in the first 6, looked more negative and less effective in the last 6. But Canelo was still not so effective. I remember thinking in about the 5th round, if this kid ever wants to be great he needs to put his foot on the accelerator right now...it never came. He could only do what Cotto allowed him to do, Cotto was in a fight with his own gas tank, yes he occasionally had defensive lapses and Canelo picked some great single shots, some counters and some leads, undoubtedly the harder shots, but Cotto was more consistent and quite often answered those singles with combinations. I had the fight even going into the last, which Canelo won and gave him the fight on my card, but I am so disappointed with his performance. He doesn't know how to force the issue and take control of the fight, he has all the moves, pull counters, good jab, lead uppercuts, great right hand, literally everything in his arsenal, yet he can't put any of it together. He got outboxed for large portions.
The other point I wanted to make was that everything stunk about the night. The scorecards, the HBO commentary, even the teleprompter showing the replays. It felt like the result was preordained and Cotto would have to dominate to get a split decision. It might seem like I am defending Cotto, and "butthurt" about the result, I can assure you I am not. Just really disappointed about the politics in the sport, again. No matter what happened before the fight, sanctioning bodies, belts, step aside money, the competition should be fair and just. As I said Cotto was never going to be allowed to win that fight, I thought the scorecards were a disgrace, an embarrassment to a very good fight and soured it once again for me.
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