Cotto-Margarito I was clean. Cotto looked better after 9 rounds in 2008 (Photos)

[BoxingGenius27]

Its not the punches its the pace. In the words of Emmanuel Steward "Pressure from a taller fighter is different". Margarito is non stop agression and that's why Cotto faded in the first fight. Ricardo Lopez had Cotto out on his feet for god's sake. Nobody has proof Margarito loaded his gloves in their first fight. What we do know for sure is that with legit hand wraps against Pacquiao, Margarito broke a couple of his ribs and had him in more trouble than any other fighter in recent memory. Finally, Margarito's chin wasn't loaded and that boy took Cotto's shots and kept on coming.

Ricardo Lopez had Cotto out on his feet? This is news to me.

Margarito did hurt Pac to the body. But broke a few ribs? This is news to me.

FYI.... Marg out weighed Pac by about 25 lbs on fight night. I wouldn't say the reason he hurt Pac is because Marg is some kind of fierce puncher.

[QADASHBANYAH]

Cotto's face is more prone to swelling after the first fight and the Pac fight.

When you been swelled up like that it gets easier to become that way every time out after.

The key was if Cotto was hurt by the punches.

Which I don't think he was.

Some times **** slips my mind, but the first fight wasnt above 147 correct???

With that stated, cotto was smaller in the first fight than in the second fight... The first fight was at 147 correct???

if thats the case, COTTO could take damage and not be as terrible looking as Margarito was stronger in the 2nd fight than the first..... This would explain why cotto looked worse in this fight than teh first...

IMO CHEATO IS A CHEATER, PLAIN AND ****IN SIMPLE, HE GOT CAUGHT AND I FIND IT STRANGE THAT HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN CAUGHT HIS FIRST TIME ATTEMPTING THIS...

PLUS HE KNEW THAT **** WAS ILLEGAL AND WAS PRETENDING HE DIDNT KNOW. FOR THAT MATTER HE COULD HAVE ALWAYS HAD PLASTER LOL......

HE'S A ****IN LIAR, AND A DISGRACE..... WHO DEFENDS ****IN CHEATERS EXCEPT TEH WEAK????

[P4P_No1]

Great fight, great performance by Cotto, and the stoppage was fair. I'd have like to see one more round but it is what it is. I think we can all agree it was ****** to let Pac-Marg go the full 12.

I was really put off by the commentary team though. Manny Steward was naturally very negative about Cotto's fight plan, even though he was putting on the performance of his career. Bitter much? And the thing that frustrated me most was Kellerman and Lampley saying Margarito's shots "didn't have the power they did in the first fight for some reason" Are they ****ing high?

How can you say Margarito's shot's were weaker when he wasn't landing anything? Cotto used his lateral movement to **** up Margarito's aggression and keep him from dong what he did in the first fight. He spent absolutely zero time against the ropes. I didn't compare (and don't trust) Compubox, but it looked like Marga landed about 60% of the number shots he landed in the first fight, and very few of them were telling blows. Margarito's uppercut, which he landed at will in the first fight, was only seen about once a round.

Below: Cotto's face before the 9th round of last night's fight.


vs

Cotto coming out for round 9 in the first Margarito fight


Cuts aside, his face looks a little better in the first fight, even though he'd been hit with far, far more power shots than he last night. So how did Margarito damage Cotto equally/more than he did in the first fight if he was both without loaded wraps and landed far fewer clean blows?

Opinions? I think team HBO were looking for any reason to back up their well voiced opinion that Cotto-Margarito one wasn't a fair fight. And I think they were wrong.

You and me must have been listening to a different Manny Steward. The only negative he said was that Cotto isn't using his left hook to the body which could be used to slow Margarito coming forward.

[paulf]

You and me must have been listening to a different Manny Steward. The only negative he said was that Cotto isn't using his left hook to the body which could be used to slow Margarito coming forward.

You could hear the disappointment in his voice and he kept saying that Cotto's fight plan was the same as the first fight (not it wasn't). He also kept saying Margarito was turning the fight more his way, and you could see the worried look on Cottos face (I didn't see one). Most of all he kept saying that Cotto needed to hit Margarito, tie him up, push him back, and then use his faster handspeed to land shots when the broke up and then stepped out of the way.

Basically he kept saying Cotto needed to fight Margarito just like Mosley did, which is not at all what he needed to do. Manny was way too critical of a fight plan that won Cotto every single round and made him look good while doing so.