The Morning-After Pill: What Miguel Quitto did wrong....

[steptwome]

VERY GOOD POST apart from the quitto part

i CERTAINLY WOULD NOT AGREE WITH THE QUITTO MONIKER EITHER

[MindBat]

Excellent observation, Dios.

One word comes to mind: Overconfident.

He put his fist up in the air two or three times after hitting Margarito to rally the crowd, and with the expectation of making it a one sided fight in his favor.

Can't blame him, as Margarito, got off to a very slow start and was absorbing all of Cotto's hard shots, despite claiming he would start fast and jump on Cotto from the opening bell.

Margarito was just plain methodical and unwavering in his pursuit of Cotto.

Margo just kept plodding along and firing shots in the face of what appeared to be tremendous odds that were leading to his eventual defeat as a far gone conclusion.

He proved otherwise last night.

I believe Cotto did all he could to the best of his abilities, except hit Margo with a metal ****ed, two by four to keep Margarito's unrelenting pressure at bay at times so that he could catch his breath.

[2quick2slick]

Yeah. I didn't see Cotto attacking Tony's body. But he will on the rematch.

[beauty]

I am just speechless. Speechless, I tell you. SPEECHLESS!!!!!

Boxing rocks!!!

[-Hyperion-]

you know why he didnt do all that and made all those mistakes????because there was a bigger possibilty of losing in his mind if he did otherwise, margaritos durability and physicality grants him the opportunity to exploit all those things as well....miguel bet on not tiring(or less pressure)and being able to fight in spurts without eatin too much when he stopped to rest.....and he was cautious of margaritos power, thats why he only fired head shots, body shots leave you open more time, miguel can pull it off with guys who will back off after taking the punch, but agasint someone who is as durable as margo, youre just asking for a trade....

[Boricua6]

Very Good analysis

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Miguel Cotto made a number of mistakes (IMHO). As I was watching the fight, I was observing these.

1) Where was the bodywork? Miguel went almost exclusively upstairs. While he was snapping Tony's head, he failed to balance his attack by employing jabs to the stomach to disrupt Tony, and left hooks to the body to soften TM up.
In order tp be effective to the body you must get inside. Cotto didn't want to go inside and take the fight where Marg has the major advantage.
2) Too much movement. FMJ is often called a "runner". I have watched every FMJ fight since he was a prospect. I have NEVER seen him run as much as Miguel did. While some (SOME!) of that movement was warranted, Migs wasted GOBS of energy with the 10K that he ran in the ring. Where was the clinching? Clinching eats up time, and gives you a breather. Why didn't he ever tie Tony up and walk him back? If you look at fights like FMJ/hatton, or Oscar/Vargas, they tied their man up, or used smart breaks to take some of the steam off. You can't RUN for 12 rounds. Running backwards and changing directions uses more energy than the guy who is just walking forward. Imagine if Tony had even the slightest inkling on how to cut off a ring.
He didn't run, he just understood he can't handle Marg's size and power. There's no way he can stand in front of Marg and have a BETTER chance to win. He did what he could, Marg just walked him down. Clinching will only take you so far.
3) Quitto kept it on the perimeter. Who has done well against Tony? Clottey? Yes. Williams? Surely. Where were those fights fought? Largely in the center of the ring. Up close. Who has done really poorly against TM? Golden. Cintron. and now Quito. Where did they all get knocked out? against the ropes. You can't stay at arms length vs a tall man. Sugar Ray Leonard found that out vs Hearns, and that is why he came inside and became the ****er. Quitto's mistake is that he was ending up on the powerful part of Tony's punches, instead of stepping inside and smothering that power. He allowed Margie to have full leverage. Never tied him up with elbows, forearms, holding, etc.
Give Marg some credit will you..Marg was moving well and cutting the ring off when he needed to. Yes he was getting hit with flush shots but he was walking Cotto down and blocking a lot of shots with the lead hand. Not to mention he wasn't affected by Cotto's best shots and that will demoralize anyone.
4) One pace. Think about the fight. You almost can't distinguish one round from the next. The fight was going by so fast for two reasons: a) it was a very good fight. But b) because it was the same **** happening over and over. Do you remember when Floyd had ricky hurt at the end of round 8? What did he do in round 9? Move in for the kill? No. He jabbed Ricky silly. Changed the pace. Kept the guy off balance. Boxing is about adjustments. Miguel just kept circling and countering, and Tony kept getting closer and closer. Against Shane, Miguel made the late-round adjustment to backpedal and box. Against Tony, he tried that tactic for the WHOLE FIGHT. This sounds strange to say, but the fight I was reminded of mostly was Taylor-Chavez.
Great analogy and I said it all night, it WAS Taylor vs Chavez. It's easy to compaire what he did with Judah or Mosley but those guys don't have the size, chin and power that Marg does. Cotto fought an almost perfect fight for 6-7 rounds and was never rewarded by it becaue Marg imposed his will, power and chin on Cotto. Like Chavez/Taylor, if they rematch, Marg beats Cotto even worse.
5) "Don't try this at home". There are guys who can sit on the ropes and defend and who feel very comfortable there. They can stay on the ropes and avoid leather all night. Those guys have names like Whitaker and Mayweather. Miguel, you are a terrific fighter. But that isn't your game. You are not Pea. And you are not Floyd. When you went to the ropes, you basically sat there and countered....but you ate leather.
He had no choice. Again, he wanted to push forward, he wanted to box more in and out..Marg just wouldn't let him and wasn't affected by his best shots. He had no choice but to retreat, either that or get KO'd even quicker.
6)Don't read your own press. Everybody was saying that the fight turned into the fight they expected. That was good for Tony, and bad for Miguel. Tony is largely a one-trick pony. Miguelhas the more comprehensive skills package. I believe that Quitto pretty much bought in to all the experts opinions. I'm not saying that he relied on that. But he certainly felt that his superior boxing (that earned the early 3:1 odds) was enough to win.
I don't think that at all. Cotto is a professional through and through. He prepared very well for this fight and knew what he needed to do. What else should he have done or could have done? He had two choices, 1 - Be smart and box and use your speed, jab and quickness tobeat Marg or 2 - Stand in front of Marg more and get over powered and KO'd by a bigger, stronger mand that you can't hurt. He chose the first, executed it superbly and STILL lost. There's nothing there for Cott with Margarito except a beating and more pain.
That is the Dios viewpoint. I may become smarter after breakfast. Later.

.........................................

[MindBat]

I am just speechless. Speechless, I tell you. SPEECHLESS!!!!!

Boxing rocks!!!

Hey, beauty.

Long time no see!

I could hear many jaws all over the world dropping to the floor from my house.

Do know sign language?

[rambov]

I think Cotto could not attack the body. I think Magarito protected his ribs more than his head.
I think Magarito broke Cotto's jaw.

If Floyd moved like that after the 6th round we would not hear the end of that **** today.

[Fox McCloud]

A lot of good points, Dios. I think #2 is the key one. You cannot move that much in a fight, especially if you're eating body punches as well.

I have to agree here as well. There is something to be said backing up, and backing up, and then going back to the center of the ring after you slip a punch, but I thought Cotto was using some Casamayor-esque movement for the fight. He seriously was moving in a circle around the ring like Casamayor did against Diego Corrales (or anyone else for that matter), but... He is too big and too strong to thrive doing that, and as you said, especially with the body work.