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(Warning: Thinking Intensive)
A lot of the discussion on who will win Saturday night hinges on who boxing fans think is more "shot." As always, in boxing you are only as good as your last fight. So it makes a lot of sense that the boxing public is giving Cotto an edge in terms of who has more left in the tank. However, a lot of this is based on Margarito's last fight, a beating at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. Also, his fight before that against Roberto Garcia, which fans considered to be just an okay performance. However, note that it has been confirmed by Team Margarito that Margarito was making a conscious effort to put rounds under his belt after an extended period of inactivity.
So, this brings us to Cotto. 2-0 in his last two fights, both won by convincing stoppage. But, consider the opposition. A relatively unproven Yuri Foreman who was fighting without one of his legs.. And was consequently knocked out again in his very next fight, this time by one Pawel Wolak. Also, the Wolak stoppage ocurred even sooner and when Foreman was at full health. The next fight was against what remains of consumate under achiever Ricardo Mayorga.
So supposing Antonio Margarito's last two fights were against Foreman and Mayorga and he won them both by equally convincing stoppages. And imagine everyone's last memory of Cotto was his knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao. Is it possible to say that perhaps the boxing public would be viewing Cotto as the more "shot" fighter and NOT Margarito? Basing such an important determination(who's more shot) on such subjective information leads to the type of smoke in mirrors that results in upsets.
I think at the very least it would be incredibly more reasonable to assume both men are equally "shot" or that the variable in this situation was negligible. Which would only bring us right back to where both men were in 2008 when they last met. Wraps aside of course since it's impossible to know for sure exactly the impact of what was in Margarito's gloves(or if there was anything illegal in them or not, although I think there was).
I'm a big Cotto fan, and this thread's intention is simply to point out Margarito may not be as shot(at least in relation to Cotto's shotness) as many think he is. Thoughts, disagreements? Please discuss!
A lot of the discussion on who will win Saturday night hinges on who boxing fans think is more "shot." As always, in boxing you are only as good as your last fight. So it makes a lot of sense that the boxing public is giving Cotto an edge in terms of who has more left in the tank. However, a lot of this is based on Margarito's last fight, a beating at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. Also, his fight before that against Roberto Garcia, which fans considered to be just an okay performance. However, note that it has been confirmed by Team Margarito that Margarito was making a conscious effort to put rounds under his belt after an extended period of inactivity.
So, this brings us to Cotto. 2-0 in his last two fights, both won by convincing stoppage. But, consider the opposition. A relatively unproven Yuri Foreman who was fighting without one of his legs.. And was consequently knocked out again in his very next fight, this time by one Pawel Wolak. Also, the Wolak stoppage ocurred even sooner and when Foreman was at full health. The next fight was against what remains of consumate under achiever Ricardo Mayorga.
So supposing Antonio Margarito's last two fights were against Foreman and Mayorga and he won them both by equally convincing stoppages. And imagine everyone's last memory of Cotto was his knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao. Is it possible to say that perhaps the boxing public would be viewing Cotto as the more "shot" fighter and NOT Margarito? Basing such an important determination(who's more shot) on such subjective information leads to the type of smoke in mirrors that results in upsets.
I think at the very least it would be incredibly more reasonable to assume both men are equally "shot" or that the variable in this situation was negligible. Which would only bring us right back to where both men were in 2008 when they last met. Wraps aside of course since it's impossible to know for sure exactly the impact of what was in Margarito's gloves(or if there was anything illegal in them or not, although I think there was).
I'm a big Cotto fan, and this thread's intention is simply to point out Margarito may not be as shot(at least in relation to Cotto's shotness) as many think he is. Thoughts, disagreements? Please discuss!
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