Who's the real welterweight champ??? Be objective!

[larry x]

Margarito-Cotto?

w/ Mosley>Margarito. It makes Mosley the man sittin on the throne.

nope margo was never the man..hense no ring belt awarded..the championship is vacant

[xxjace]

right now I have to say mosley..

[Thread Stealer]

Margarito-Cotto?

w/ Mosley>Margarito. It makes Mosley the man sittin on the throne.

I don't know about either of them being a #1 vs. #2 matchup. Cotto and Williams were the consensus top 2 WW contenders when Mayweather retired. While Williams lost to Quintana, he won the rematch, and does that one (avenged) loss put him below a man he beat in Margarito?

Then Cotto loses to Margarito, Margarito takes over the #1 contender spot, but Cotto's still above Mosley. Mosley lost to Cotto and hadn't won a WW fight in two years when he beat Margarito. Then you have Williams in there as well, unless you feel he's left the division for good and shouldn't be in the rankings (Mosley-Marg was only 6 months after Williams's last WW fight)

I'm not talking about "consensus #1 WW", I'm talking about a historical/lineal sense. It's still probably vacant, although the whole lineal things get tricky anyway.

[Left2body]

I would say Cotto is the best WW but Mosley is the WW Champ at the moment.

[Iceta]

The division is a mess when it comes to clarity in my view. But I think the two best fighters are Paul Williams and Shane Mosley. Williams would be slightly favored over him in a head-to-head matchup, but it's still anybody's fight. And I don't want to call Cotto the champ, because if he gets his ass kicked tonight that's going to make me look ******.

[Deja_Vous]

Here are the records for each boxer AT WELTERWEIGHT (147lbs):

1. Miguel Cotto

Michael Jennings TKO 5
Alfonso Gomez RTD 5
Shane Mosley UD 12
Zab Judah TKO 11
Oktay Urkal TKO 11
Carlos Quintana RTD 5

2. Shane Mosley

Antonio Margarito TKO 9
Luis Collazo UD 12
Jose Luis Cruz UD 10
David Estrada UD 10
Oscar De La Hoya SD 12 & UD 12
Wilfredo Rivera KO 10
Antonio Diaz TKO 6
Shannan Taylor TKO 6

3. Floyd Mayweather Jr

Ricky Hatton TKO 10
Carlos Baldomir UD 12
Zab Judah UD 12
Sharmba Mitchell TKO 6

4. Antonio Margarido (assuming no plater until Shane Mosley fight)

Miguel Angel Cotto TKO 11
Kermit Cintron KO 6 & TKO 5
Golden Johnson TKO 1
Joshua Clottey UD 12
Manuel Gomez TKO 1


It's either Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley, in my eyes.
Margarito's record looks impressive but I keep thinking "plaster plaster plaster."

What do you guys think?

Sugar Shane

[Iceta]

And I still view Paul Williams as being in the equation because he didn't leave the division by choice. He is aggressively pursuing a fight with Shane Mosley.