Done trashing Margarito's career; let's reevaluate Cotto's

So many people were writing Cotto off after only TWO losses and one close fight with Clottey. I even heard people saying Cotto looked awful against Foreman and Mayorga. Why? Because he lost one or two rounds to each of those guys before TKOing them? Going back before his career seemed to have turned for the worse... He fought Mosley close in 2007 but did beat him. I haven't heard too many people claim Mosley deserved the win. 115-113 for Cotto makes it close yet pretty clear to a lot of people and seemed fair. After he was bludgeoned with plaster for 11 rounds... He fought a life and death battle with Clottey, but Clottey, like Margarito, has a great chin and gets stronger as the fight goes on. And Cotto just isn't going to out box someone the way Floyd or Pacquiao can. A lot of people came off this fight saying Cotto was shot. I came off it impressed that he pulled out a tough, tough fight given what he had gone through only a year before. Now it's obvious the first loss to Margarito was BS and shouldn't count. And what if in the next 5-10 years, it's proven that Pacquiao was on the juice? Not saying he would have beaten Pacquiao, but, had the losses been removed, COTTO WOULD BE UNDEFEATED with wins over some great names. He's not an all-time great top 100 fighter or anything, but do you really think Cotto is that far behind some of the better fighters of this decade, the likes of Barrera, Morales, Marquez, Mosley, etc? Because I really don't.

Comments (20)

IronDanHamza

Career-wise, I think Morales is better than both Barrera and Marquez. But that was just of the last decade. And between 2000 and 2009, Morales lost 6 fights (though I always thought the Diaz loss was BS). Same reason Roy Jones or Oscar De La Hoya isn't on that list. Great careers, but they didn't do their best work in the latter half of the 2000s. Maybe not the second half of the decade, but the first half of the decade 00-05 is the bulk of Morales' reasons for his greatness. His 2 best wisn are between 00-05 with Pacquaio and Barrera. Wins over Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez, Guty Espadas Jr, Paulie Ayala etc. I'd say without any question that his resume from 00-05 utterly trumps his resume from 97-99. And his resume from 00-05 certainly smashes Cotto's entire career out the water.

14y ago

street_bully

It's funny how Marquez was top 10 pfp when he fought Floyd and then after Floyd dominated him Marquez only drops 1 or 2 spots in top 10 and then when he loses to Pac he's still top 10 pfp, they even got him listed at #3 after the pac fight over Sergio and Nonito, but after Cotto loses they take him off there top 10 pfp lists quick. He's only had 2 losses one being non legit and another being to the #1 dude so I think Cotto should belong in top 10 pfp. IMO the Pac fight was not legit do to catchweight so I think Cotto does deserve to get a chance to avenge his loss to Pac. That fighter of the decade list looks pretty good to me. Thats because marquez beat pacquaio up and won only to get robbed of his win, cotto got a career worst ass whooping and was knocked out.

14y ago

DiegoFuego

Where's Morales? Career-wise, I think Morales is better than both Barrera and Marquez. But that was just of the last decade. And between 2000 and 2009, Morales lost 6 fights (though I always thought the Diaz loss was BS). Same reason Roy Jones or Oscar De La Hoya isn't on that list. Great careers, but they didn't do their best work in the latter half of the 2000s.

14y ago

IronDanHamza

14y ago

Lords

When I did my top 10 fighters of the decade in 2010, I believe it went something like: 1. Mayweather 2. Pacquiao 3. Hopkins 4. Barrera 5. Marquez 6. Cotto 7. Calzaghe 8. Wright 9. Mosley 10. Wladimir Klitschko Now that's just based on what these guys did from 2000 to 2009. Now that one of Cotto's losses is basically null and void, he's only lost to the guy I rated 2nd in fighter of the decade. Career-wise, I think he's accomplished more than Calzaghe, Wright and Wlad. You don't have to agree though. It's funny how Marquez was top 10 pfp when he fought Floyd and then after Floyd dominated him Marquez only drops 1 or 2 spots in top 10 and then when he loses to Pac he's still top 10 pfp, they even got him listed at #3 after the pac fight over Sergio and Nonito, but after Cotto loses they take him off there top 10 pfp lists quick. He's only had 2 losses one being non legit and another being to the #1 dude so I think Cotto should belong in top 10 pfp. IMO the Pac fight was not legit do to catchweight so I think Cotto does deserve to get a chance to avenge his loss to Pac. That fighter of the decade list looks pretty good to me.

14y ago

IronDanHamza

Avenging the margarito loss means a lot. Hard to say hes not a hall of fame fighter at this point. It means literally nothing in my opinon. Only reason I wanted to see the fight was so Cotto had a chance to get revenge. In terms of legacy it does nothing what so ever for him.

14y ago

DiegoFuego

Avenging the margarito loss means a lot. Hard to say hes not a hall of fame fighter at this point. LOL, yeah because Margarito is such an elite fighter. Cotto's win over Margarito was just mopping up a B or C level fighter who got as far as he did by cheating. Without plaster, that win's not much better than his win over Gomez. We're talking about everything ELSE Cotto has done. You know, against real opponents.

14y ago

Antonio

Avenging the margarito loss means a lot. Hard to say hes not a hall of fame fighter at this point.

14y ago

DiegoFuego

Or at least without sapping Cotto by making him weight in at 145 or whatever.

14y ago

noekin3

mmm, i dont wanna see pac-cotto again.........i still dont see how cotto could win against pac........

14y ago

DiegoFuego

14y ago

IronDanHamza

It may be too late but it would be nice to see Cotto work on his in-fighting skills because they're average at best, if that. I think the Cotto we have now is the Cotto we will always see. In terms of skills he's pretty much always been the same. So any infighting or be able to handle pressure (from a legit opponent) he's just never going to attain. I'm suprised a lot of people would like to see Cotto rematch Pacquaio. That's a fight I definitely don't want to see again. The outcome will be the same.

14y ago

IronDanHamza

:lol1:. How far behind do you think? Reasonably far. I wouldn't even put him infront of Winky Wright who I would argue isn't a future HOF'er. I wouldn't put him above Shane either, no way. Let alone the ATG's of the last decade like Mayweather, Pacquaio, Hopkins, Morales, Barrera, Marquez etc.

14y ago

The_Gambler1981

It may be too late but it would be nice to see Cotto work on his in-fighting skills because they're average at best, if that. He can throw the punches he just lacks the defense tricks to do it, when you look at Cotto you just think inside fighter but he fights nothing like that.

14y ago

DiegoFuego

The only way I'd want a rematch with Pacquiao is if Pacquiao loses to Floyd. Or, like I said, if Pacquiao is proven to be on the juice in the future (not saying he is, so relax. Just hypothetically speaking).

14y ago

DiegoFuego

Cotto never faded in the Clottey fight. Cotto was boxing Clottey pretty good until (in my opinion) that intenational headbutt came..Cotto couldn't see jack **** trough that eye. I said Clottey fades, not Cotto.

14y ago

IMDAZED

He is a very good fighter, but he is somewhat of a front runner although not everyone was able to take advantage when the going got tough. So while a poor trait at least he has shown the ability to pull it together if allowed. What always bothers me about Cotto is when he fights going backwards, because he does it to avoid damage but ends up taking more than if he just fought aggressively. A short stocky guy should press inside and get inside the range where the other guy can be effective and work from there, moving away just doesn't suit him because he never has the range advantage to take advantage of moving away. Cotto has real talent and boxing skills but to me he lacks that attention to detail that really allows a guy to move beyond being very good, but his career has been solid he avenged one of his loses and his other defeat is to one of the top couple guys of the era, don't know how you can really knock that to much. It may be too late but it would be nice to see Cotto work on his in-fighting skills because they're average at best, if that.

14y ago

IMDAZED

Agree, might as well since Floyd ain't getting it. Now that Cotto has a better team behind him, and both Mosley and Marquez exposed Pacquiao's weaknesses, maybe Cotto can do something with a better game plan. I hope he brings that right hand with him cause he's gonna need it, that stood out last night. I saw some glimpses of the Cotto from the Mosley fight. Me too. A little slower but it's like he dusted off some of the skills last night. Yeah, a Pac rematch isn't such a bad idea. Don't know if he can drop to 147 though.

14y ago

NAPO

Yeah, actually I was way off base with that Clottey claim. He completely fades late in fights. But he takes punishment similarly to Margarito and doesn't crack defensively. He just quits fighting. Cotto never faded in the Clottey fight. Cotto was boxing Clottey pretty good until (in my opinion) that intenational headbutt came..Cotto couldn't see jack **** trough that eye.

14y ago

The_Gambler1981

14y ago