..Why Miguel Cotto Is A Better Fighter Than Ricky Hatton...

[Ryn0]

This was sparked by a thread that, essentially, tried to prove the opposite. It slightly annoys me when a fighter gets discredited AFTER he loses his first fight, or his biggest fight. Like the people critiquing him, could see it all along. They ALL, of course, predicted it....Yeah..... It bothers me, so I felt compelled to start the thread. You can read or just vote if you so choose.

Miguel Cotto has better speed and power.

His ability to switch from predator to matador is impressive, which Hatton doesn't have. Hatton is much closer to being one-dimnesional than Cotto.

Cotto has a MUCH wider arsenal of punches than does Hatton.

Miguel can throw sharper combinations and has the ability to see the counters or just out-right punches coming WAY better than Hatton does.

He has a tighter defense and is able to roll with the punches and pick them off much better.

His stamina is far better, due to better training and staying in shape in between fights. It also helps that he has a bit better of a chin.

Cotto has the ability to effectively switch from southpaw to orthodox when he's in against the right opponent.

His handspeed and footwork are better than Hatton's. Cotto can not only switch stances, but also move back and forth and stretch the ring. Against anyone other than Margarito, he'd have done that all night.

In their only losses, Cotto looked better, lasted longer.

His resume/record is better, overall. Hatton and Cotto both have only one loss. And Hatton CAN say HIS was to the best fighter, pound for pound at the time. However, Cotto lost to his toughest opponent as well. Regardless, I'd take Mosley, Judah, Quintana, Gomez and Malignaggi with losing to Margarito... WAY before I would take Tszyu, Castillo, Tackie, Collazo and Lazcano with losing to Mayweather.

Also factor in that Cotto's opponents have a combined record of 781-151-18, compared to Hatton's opponents with 959-388-65 at the time of their meetings.

In their only common opponent, Cotto beat Carlos Maussa in one less round.

Cotto has a MUCH better record against undefeated fighters than Hatton does. Cotto beat Malignaggi, Quintana, Torres, Pinto and Maussa. If you count his pro debut, against a fellow named Jason Doucet, that brings his undefeated fighter versus undefeated fighter record to 6-0, 5 by way of knockout. THe 6th fight was a UD to Malignaggi.

Hatton, on the other hand, is 2-1 under the same circumstances. He beat Urango and a guy named Tommy Pea****, then lost to Mayweather in his second to last fight to date. Hatton debuted against a guy with 50 plus fights, 48 of those fights having been losses. This guys name was Colin McAuley.

Cotto essentially cleaned out a division he was shakey in. At 140 pounds, Cotto was weight drained. And he managed to take on better fighters than Hatton has, and he did it in an impressive fashion. Once he left, the division was wide open and Hatton has yet to face anyone at 140 that's REALLY impressive, other than Kostya. Though, Castillo was a nice name.

Cotto's best win is Mosley, Hatton's best win is Tszyu. That's a toss up, though I will say Kostya, TO ME, looked a bit more faded than Mosley did against Cotto.

Finally, Cotto beat the guy that very well may give Hatton his second loss.

It will be their second common opponent. Let's see how it plays out.


For the record, I'm not trying to sell Hatton short, overall. Just when he's compared to Cotto, he falls short.

Regardless, vote. Discuss.

I don't agree with Cotto having better stamina and footwork. Hattons footwork is amazing and his stamina has to be good to keep that up. Other than that you hit th nail on the head.

[reptar]

lets wait and see what hatton does to paulie because if Hatton anhilates Paulie there will b a clamour for Hatton vs cotto

[-Antonio-]

Cotto is the better fighter. He's beaten better fighters. He's shown his versatility against better competition as well. If you line up their best 10 wins its almost laughable how much better Cotto's opposition is. Not to hate on Ricky, he's just on a lower level all together.

Hatton has better footwork btw. He's surprisingly quick footed, and can pivot in and out at his best. Although I think Cotto might be the best fighter at cutting off the ring...

[NeXt In Line]

I said before that if Hatton met Cotto at 140 while Cotto was campaigning there, Hatton would take it. No doubt about it, Hatton pre-Tszyu was a monster, you put the Hatton like, during or pre Kosta fight and he murks Cotto at 140, I think. Though, Cotto could still ****, his chin would be a factor.

Overall Cotto is a much better fighter I think, his boxing ability is tremendous, and he'll get better over time too. Next two years Cotto will be back on top, guaranteed. And even if he rematches Margarito, he'll know what he has to do: BODY, BODY, BODY.

[-Antonio-]

I said before that if Hatton met Cotto at 140 while Cotto was campaigning there, Hatton would take it. No doubt about it, Hatton pre-Tszyu was a monster, you put the Hatton like, during or pre Kosta fight and he murks Cotto at 140, I think. Though, Cotto could still ****, his chin would be a factor.

Overall Cotto is a much better fighter I think, his boxing ability is tremendous, and he'll get better over time too. Next two years Cotto will be back on top, guaranteed. And even if he rematches Margarito, he'll know what he has to do: BODY, BODY, BODY.

He was a monster against weak competition. That's the thing. People can look at the Margarito fight and say he cant take pressure, but Margarito was taking punches Hatton would not take.

[Dan...]

Cotto. Not even close. At all.