The Aftermath of The Welterweights, Take One

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - A letdown was bound to happen. We asked for, and received, too many dream matchups last year, many of which came in the richly talented welterweight division. It began with Miguel Cotto's beatdown of Zab Judah and ended with everyone claiming to be an expert on the term "check hook" after Floyd Mayweather snatched Ricky Hatton's "0" and Fighter of the Year honors after stopping the Mancunian in the 10th round of their world welterweight title bout.

Never satisfied with things remaining the way they are, the first question on most boxing fans' mind immediately after Mayweather's hand was raised: when do we see Mayweather-Cotto?

At the time, we at least had a suitable consolation prize, with Super Bowl Eve to play host to yet another fantastic welterweight matchup. Undefeated southpaw Paul Williams (33-0, 24KO) and resurging knockout artist Kermit Cintron were slated to square off in an alphabet unification match while looking to convince the boxing world that the welterweight debate extended beyond a two-man race. [details]

[TheSurgeonMDMPH]

How long will they duck PW. I would have thought Cotto would have stepped up by now. But instead he is content on fighting Margie or Cintron, Bunch of BS.

[Jim Jeffries]

How long will they duck PW. I would have thought Cotto would have stepped up by now. But instead he is content on fighting Margie or Cintron, Bunch of BS.

Margarito and Cintron are bigger names than Williams at this point. Paul has faced 4 top 50 contenders so far, the rest of his resume are tomato cans. "Duck" Williams, please, the dude hasn't even defended his first title yet.

[DLT]

Lets be real though, they are ducking Williams but its not super ducking. By that I mean that I dont think Arum is scared to put Cotto in with Williams but he's scared to put Cotto in with him while he thinks theres still a chance that they could get Floyd. If he knew that Floyd really had no interest in a Cotto fight then I think Arum would put Cotto in with him but I think Arum believes that Floyd will fight Cotto after Oscar because he has nowhere else to go and he doesnt want to risk that fight by throwing Cotto in with Williams. I think Arum realizes that its possible that Williams could give Cotto major problems but I think he feels that Cotto will beat Cintron-Margarito. I think he atleast feels that Cotto would definatly kill Cintron and even if he lost to Margarito it wouldnt be totally bad because he's getting money off of both guys. Cintron is also ducking Williams but he has no real excuse.

However, as I said about Margarito in the past, people overdue this ducking thing by a mile. When they say ducking its like all they think about is Floyd or someone but the truth is that there are a ton of good fighters who would fight these guys. I said that the whole time when people was calling Margarito the most avoided. Then you had a millilon fighters come out and challange him. Remember that? Its no different about Williams. Sure Floyd, Cotto, and Cintron may not fight him right now but there are a ton of guys who would. Zab, Clottey, Forrest, Collazo, Spinks, and so on. Margarito would too but he knows he has a shot at Cotto coming up so thats why he's not in there. Williams has a ton of top options that people just dont want to look at. Clottey would fight him right now without any hesitation and you guys know it

[khargoosh]

All the welterweight hype and bull****...

I find it funny that every time i read this forum there's a discussion
about the welterweight division. Who's gonna fight who, who's ducking
who, money this,money that.
The truth is and sadly to say, boxing isnt just boxing. Its a business.
I recall Antonio M calling out Mayweather and look what it turned into...
everyone running their mouth about how Mayweather is ducking him
and missed out on a $10million pay day. But look what Mayweather's reward
was for taking a better purse. He tripled that fighting dela hoya.
Mayweather at one point in his career had called out Sugar Shane "twice".
But did the fight ever happen? No it didnt. Why? Hmm, was it that sugar
shane was scared? I dont think so. He's proven time n time again that he
will fight anyone. But at the same time, the $$ draw wouldnt have been so
great and if he took the risk and lost that wouldve been even worse.
So lets not confuse ourselves when we speak on mayweather.
People always ask..."who has he fought. Honestly, he's had some good
opponents and some not so good. But thats the case with every other boxer
that you guys continue to speak on. Who had Antonio fought that puts him
in the position to fight Mayweather? For whatever reason, he hasnt earned it
and he doesnt put the right amount of "Butts" in seats. True he does have
a following but its not enough and every promoter knows it.
Mayweather is a people pleaser, but he will please himself along w/ his own
business associates first. Thats his family and its what he's suppose to do.
Wouldnt you? 2ndly, the subject of ducking welterweights. Timing is "everything" and you cant point the finger at mayweather for being ahead
of the rest of the division. I knew way back when that people would begin
to call out Mayweather to fight Cotto but has he earned it? Cotto has fought
Judah, washed up, coming off 1year suspension and still put up a hell of a
fight. I know for a fact that if Cotto had fought Judah around the time he
beat Corey Spinks, Cotto may have gotten knocked out. Cotto's chin has
been alittle suspect as we all know. But again, timing is everything. Cotto
wasnt ready 2-3years ago so he has to earn his way. The division isnt
packed w/ as much talent as the perception presents. If you really wanna
make an arguement, make it with the promoters. Antonio lost to Paul
Williams. He simply got out boxed and we all know this no matter how much
we may not wanna accept it. He doesnt deserve a title shot until he shows
that he can come back from a loss and perform "well", not good,but excellent! Does anyone recall Vivian Harris calling out mayweather? What happened to him the very next fight? He got his ass knocked out.
So lets forget all about the Cintrons, Margueritas, the Gomez's who arent
significant at all at this point from a fans perspective and a boxing business
perspective. In saying all this, the fight that should already be on the schedule for the early spring is Cotto vs Williams. You cant say No No..
Williams needs to fight some more bla bla bla... I could say the same thing
about Cotto. Its not about looks or popularity is it? Because thats the only
real thing that separates Cotto n Williams. And that ok. Its the name of the
game. So if the promoters wont make this fight happen, how is mayweather's management team any worse? Mayweather has earned the
right to sit back n watch. No matter what comes out of his mouth when he
speaks retirement time n time again or how bored of the sport he is...
mayweather does wanna be considered as one of the best in history.
True, he hasnt sealed his legacy in my opinion but he should fight the winner
of a manditory showdown between Cotto n Williams. All this other bull****
is just plane bull****. Promoters are hoping that mayweather loses some of
his speed and skill. Timing is everything and if the fight between mayweather and the winner of the Cotto vs. Williams doesnt happen soon
its pretty transparent that the promoters are full of ****. This isnt a "Mayweather" decision. He is the king and has earned that right to wait.
So ask yourselves......why is Cotto fighting Gomez? LOL.
NO criticism there but a rematch between mayweather vs. dela hoya has
gotten nothing but bad criticism and i agree. Its not worth seeing but is
Cotto vs Gomez worth seeing? Boxing is a business and if you look at w/o
being biased 2wards anyone or any particular thing, you will see just that!
Mayweather vs the winner of Cotto n Williams should be in 2008 but its not
gonna happen. Williams is hungry, doesnt talk alot of trash and has never
cried about the pay! Cotto will have problems with his reach and stamina
and his chin will get checked. Thats a problem for Cotto's promoter.
Go figure!

[Ray Ray]

Margarito and Cintron are bigger names than Williams at this point. Paul has faced 4 top 50 contenders so far, the rest of his resume are tomato cans. "Duck" Williams, please, the dude hasn't even defended his first title yet.

I understand your point, but come on now. The man is trying to fight the top WW and you cant seriously blame him for that. He called all of the top WW. Remember, after beating Margorito he called for all the big names at 147. The fight with Cintron fell through because of Cintron SO-CALLED hand problems. Cotto hasnt mention his name. Floyd wont fight. So what is he suppose to do?

[-Antonio-]

Margarito poses a bigger threat to Cotto than Williams does.

Good article. Judah is insane if he passed up Berto, he'd knock him out.

[2501]

I understand your point, but come on now. The man is trying to fight the top WW and you cant seriously blame him for that. He called all of the top WW. Remember, after beating Margorito he called for all the big names at 147. The fight with Cintron fell through because of Cintron SO-CALLED hand problems. Cotto hasnt mention his name. Floyd wont fight. So what is he suppose to do?

Keep going the Margarito route and call out the big names while racking up wins.

[Ray Ray]

Keep going the Margarito route and call out the big names while racking up wins.

I feel ya, but the difference is nobody wants anything to do with him.( just my opinion) Hell, only time will tell if he hype or is he the next man to run this division. I hope we find something out soon.

[crillz]

they ain't ducking Paul thats horse ****, they know of Paul and his time will come, the thing is they ain't ducking Paul it's just fans and media people are impatient and they make Paul to seem like a big ass threat when in reality he is a feather fisted piston puncher who is too tall to hit so he is very unorthodox and hard to hit..

you spend more time trying to figure him out than actually fighting him. they ain't ducking him but at this point he needs to earn his stripes, he ain't no overrated dude but then again since fans are so eager they want his next fight to be against the best of the best, it don't work that way, things will happen when they happen, Cotto is booked for 2 fights already so Paul will just have to wait and go threw his manditories..

he will get his shot to unify but the beginning part of the WW unification bouts are taking place with Kermit Cintron defending his title against Margarito and Cotto defending his title with Gomez with the 2 winners facing in July, then they will have to aim at Williams while Floyd fights the bull**** fight and stretches his reign another year before defending against prime Welterweights.

by the time Floyd is ready to throw down with some one who is worth a **** the other champions will have unified their belts and Floyd will just face that dude, whomever he is, then retire afterwards and thats if he wins because if he losses I'm hoping he would have the pride and heart to want some redemption. that's what Floyd is waiting for because I don't think he's trying to run threw 3 different champions, he wants them to beat each other and he fights the last man standing..