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“Cotto is also a dirty fighter. If he’s not head butting you he just rubs his head in your face -- that’s how he cut me over my eye. He’ll also use his elbows and he goes low, but that’s boxing,” he said.
Malignaggi said that part of Clottey’s problem will be that Cotto is even better at 147 pounds than he was at 140.
“He’s improved as a fighter since then,” Malignaggi observed. “He was doing his thing at 140 but he’s improved. That shows you what a good fighter he is. A lot of guys get to a certain level and they don’t get any better. He’s at the top level and he’s still improving.
“Also, he takes a better shot at 147 because he’s not drained from making weight. He takes a better punch now. He quit against Margarito, but he was never wobbled or anything. He’s a real dangerous guy at welterweight.”
“I think Clottey has a little fold in him,” Malignaggi said. “What I mean by that is not that he’ll quit if it gets tough, but that he might do some things to get himself disqualified. He’s done it before.”
Malignaggi pointed to Clottey’s disqualification loss to Carlos Baldomir in 1999 in London, and said he saw evidence of the same kind of tactic in Clottey’s decision loss to Antonio Margarito in December 2006 in Atlantic City.
Malignaggi said that part of Clottey’s problem will be that Cotto is even better at 147 pounds than he was at 140.
“He’s improved as a fighter since then,” Malignaggi observed. “He was doing his thing at 140 but he’s improved. That shows you what a good fighter he is. A lot of guys get to a certain level and they don’t get any better. He’s at the top level and he’s still improving.
“Also, he takes a better shot at 147 because he’s not drained from making weight. He takes a better punch now. He quit against Margarito, but he was never wobbled or anything. He’s a real dangerous guy at welterweight.”
“I think Clottey has a little fold in him,” Malignaggi said. “What I mean by that is not that he’ll quit if it gets tough, but that he might do some things to get himself disqualified. He’s done it before.”
Malignaggi pointed to Clottey’s disqualification loss to Carlos Baldomir in 1999 in London, and said he saw evidence of the same kind of tactic in Clottey’s decision loss to Antonio Margarito in December 2006 in Atlantic City.
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