How the hell is Clottey "elite"

[rizkybizness]

Im agreeing with Dirk on this one... I saw Clottey out landing Margarito pretty marginally for the first half of the fight.. until it became abundantly clear something was wrong with Clottey.

I had no bias on this fight.. it's just what I gathered from watching it.

marg usually gets outlanded in the first half of the fight, doesnt mean it was some sort of masterful clinic AKA "boxing the piss" out of him

again, people

clottey had a bruised knuckle. he just couldnt deal with it

[THE REED]

A bruised bone can be incredibly painful... especially when you have to continue HITTING with it.

Not a flesh bruise.

A bone bruise.

[Fox McCloud]

Yep the fact that Margarito tends to come on late doesnt change the fact he was getting his ears boxed off in the early rounds. Even when he did come on, the fight was still competitive with Clottey landing the more eye catching punches (with one good hand)

The big issue I have with this is that most people just expected Clottey to continue to do his good work that he was doing in the early rounds.

It is clear that he was making Margarito look terrible in the early rounds, but bruised knuckle or not, I seriously doubt it was going to continue to go smoothly.

Margarito has a habit of making a fight the opposite of smooth when he comes on in the later rounds.

[The Gambler1981]

My whole issue with Clottey is that if he is so very good he would have annhilated Zab Judah, in that fight although he should have scored a knockout from the cut he did not look overly impressive (and Zab did very little after the first couple rounds other then land some nice body shots).

To me Clottey just does not have "it" he is good on at both O and D but how he transitions from one to the other is poor (he can only do one at a time). I can't really describe it in any other way other then he lacks "it" (it being the general quality that seperates the special fighters from those that are very good).

[Fox McCloud]

A bruised bone can be incredibly painful... especially when you have to continue HITTING with it.

Not a flesh bruise.

A bone bruise.

Tell that to Arturo Gatti who broke his right hand and continued to throw it hard in his third fight with Ward.

Boxing is a pretty tough sport...

[THE REED]

The difference was blocked punches vs landed punches.

Marg and Clottey were both throwing...

Clotteys defense is air tight, Margs defense doesnt exist.

[PittyPat]

I don't fuckin care, Clottey drew with Margs.

[Vivid Intent]

Well he did manage not to get KTFO by Antonio Margarito.

Cotto got TKO'd, hardly "KTFO"

[Dirk Diggler UK]

The big issue I have with this is that most people just expected Clottey to continue to do his good work that he was doing in the early rounds.

It is clear that he was making Margarito look terrible in the early rounds, but bruised knuckle or not, I seriously doubt it was going to continue to go smoothly.

Margarito has a habit of making a fight the opposite of smooth when he comes on in the later rounds.

Nah I agree, I wasnt saying that. But we'll never really know how it wouldve gone. Although Margarito didnt exactly dominate the 2nd half the same way Cottey did the first. I still saw competitive rounds, Clottey just wasnt busy enough due to his injury

[The Gambler1981]

A bruised bone can be incredibly painful... especially when you have to continue HITTING with it.

Not a flesh bruise.

A bone bruise.

If he is that elite he should have ****** it up and found a way to win a couple more rounds. Bone bruises are painful but boxers are suppose to be able to deal with such matters. I am sure it was painful though, but if he lacks the mental toughness to block out the pain to win a couple rounds, how can I expect him to dig deep in the future?