How much did Cotto really risk?

[Big_L]

Mayweather, who had come up several divisions kicking asss and taking names against top competition, had by that point done more than Tszyu and was clearly the draw.

That's how it all works, dude. The draw makes the demands. That why even when he was just a shadow of his former self and not even a champion, Tyson would walk away with huge purses.

While TREMENDOUSLY talented, Tszyu hid out at 140 all of his career. His legacy is that he was completely dominant there. However the pertinent question here is "Against who?".

Tszyu is a HOF without question, but he hardly had an ATG career.

Mayweather? Money or not .. he has been the headliner in every fight he's been in since destroying Diego Corrales back when Corrales was undefeated and one the hottest up and coming prospects in boxing.

The wins over Corrales and Castillo alone were enough to warrant the lion's share in a fight with Tszyu who had not one noteworthy name to display in his win column. Tszyu's biggest wins came over Roger Mayweather, an old JC Chavez and Zab Judah.

Its a no brainer.

why was the castillo rematch an undercard fight then? floyd was no kind of draw until after gatti.

[Bootneck]

winning a vacant world championship belt is STILL a world championship belt , genius.


but yeah aside from pacquiao , that was the only fight were he was really an underdog.

don't know why people make it out like cotto was fighting against all odds or something.

his 140 resume is pretty soft.

his 147 resume is solid but he was only a big underdog going into 1 fight. the pacquiao fight.

and pacquiao is a blown up featherweight.

[Bootneck]

mosley fight they assumed mosley was too old.

margarito they assumed was too slow and not good.

clottey was solid but i'm sure cotto's handlers didn't expect clottey to give him hell.

torres was a nobody until his fight with cotto.


cotto has been in a lot of tough fights. makes people think he was taking on all comers or something.

fact is cotto was as well protected as any star.

it's just guys they assumed cotto can handle easily , he didn't handle easily.

[Beater_of_ass]

He meant Clottey IBF belt...Cotto didn't win it cuz' the IBF once again stripped Cotto opponent for trying to unify.

My God, you actually made a valid point. The only reason the Clottey fight was for a vacant title was because they stripped Clottey right before it.

[Brother Jay]

Because you feel he was FORCED into the Pacquiao and Clottey fights, that makes them less risky? That makes no sense. Regardless of why he fought them, he fought them and that is risky.

Every boxing match is "risky" as a puncher's chance is always present.

However, Cotto wasn't really taking any chances in the context of risking legacy at that point. Cotto stood to gain every thing by fighting Pacquiao and Clottey and they stood to gain little by fighting him. It was an poorly calculated risk if all was as it seemed to some people.

But the truth is that Pacquiao needed an opponent to legitimize his campaign at WW. Arum set up the vacant title match with Jennings for Cotto. Then to give oddsmakers a reason to rate Cotto as anything but a long-shot, Arum set up Cotto v Clottey. With that win over Clottey(despite having to get dirty to do it), the Pacquiao v Cotto match was legitimized and therefore marketable to the boxing public.

It was a sham, of course. From Cotto's vacant paper title(which he shouldn't have been line for due to his loss) to his having to bodyslam and low blow Clottey, Miguel didn't legitimately earn the right to be Pacquiao's sacrificial lamb, but Arum felt differently.

[Big_L]

Please explain how Cotto had nothing to lose and Clottey had nothing to gain by fighting each other. That is ridiculous.

[El Angel]

Every boxing match is "risky" as a puncher's chance is always present.

However, Cotto wasn't really taking any chances in the context of risking legacy at that point. Cotto stood to gain every thing by fighting Pacquiao and Clottey and they stood to gain little by fighting him. It was an poorly calculated risk if all was as it seemed to some people.

But the truth is that Pacquiao needed an opponent to legitimize his campaign at WW. Arum set up the vacant title match with Jennings for Cotto. Then to give oddsmakers a reason to rate Cotto as anything but a long-shot, Arum set up Cotto v Clottey. With that win over Clottey(despite having to get dirty to do it), the Pacquiao v Cotto match was legitimized and therefore marketable to the boxing public.

It was a sham, of course. From Cotto's vacant paper title(which he shouldn't have been line for due to his loss) to his having to bodyslam and low blow Clottey, Miguel didn't legitimately earn the right to be Pacquiao's sacrificial lamb, but Arum felt differently.

Little to gain? To this date, the majority of people view the Cotto win as Pacquiao finest moment. He took apart and dismantled a highly skilled boxer. And to the Clottey fight, I understand the dirty part to some degree, but Clottey butting someone almost everytime he fights is dirty fighting to me. I also think Arum was planning on match Cotto and Pacquiao before the Clottey fight, but I don't see the sacrificial lamb part. In hindsight you can make that point, but before the fight, Cotto had plenty of supporters thinking he had a legit shot to win.

[Brother Jay]

winning a vacant world championship belt is STILL a world championship belt , genius.

LOL .. well genius .. have you factored in that to be a recognized champion you have to beat a recognized champion?

By your reasoning, Barrera was a legitimate champion when Morales vacated the WBC title to go up to FW and the WBO title was "reawarded" to Barrera with no fight involved.

Proof: http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:23605

According to your logic, it was still a world championship belt .... RIGHT?

Think about that for a while before you reply. Muster up some brain power before you just type out some emotional bull****.

[Beater_of_ass]

LOL .. well genius .. have you factored in that to be a recognized champion you have to beat a recognized champion?

By your reasoning, Barrera was a legitimate champion when Morales vacated the WBC title to go up to FW and the WBO title was "reawarded" to Barrera with no fight involved.

Proof: http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:23605

According to your logic, it was still a world championship belt .... RIGHT?

Think about that for a while before you reply. Muster up some brain power before you just type out some emotional bull****.

Did Barrera fight for the title? No. Did Cotto have to win a fight in order to be called champion? Yes. Would you call Sergio the MW champion even though he was stripped and they gave the belt to Chavez? He doesn't have the belt, so how can he be the champion? Who gives a **** Cotto gets in the ring and either beats a dood up or gets beat the **** up, you sit behind a keyboard. Even if Cotto fought tomato cans all year he's still way more badass than you, true story.

[Brother Jay]

Please explain how Cotto had nothing to lose and Clottey had nothing to gain by fighting each other. That is ridiculous.

I said that Clottey had LITTLE to gain by fighting Cotto. Clottey should have been in line to fight Pacquiao, not Cotto. By all rights that fight with Pacquiao was Joshua's fight. Cotto only got his shot at Margarito because of his win over Mosley, who at the time hadn't done anything significant at WW in years. Clottey beat Zab Judah, whose career at the time wasn't much worse off than Mosley's.

The difference is that Clottey hadn't lost. He shouldn't have had to fight Cotto when he had 5 solid wins since his last loss.

Cotto had nothing to lose because he was considered damaged after the bloody beating he took from Margarito. Another loss wasn't going to hurt his career any worse than the public beating he took in that fight.

In fact, Cotto is still perceived as a shell of his former self. He's taken on soft touches like Foreman and Margarito, who had been caught cheating and had a damaged orbital bone that Cotto targeted all night.

Cotto has been established for years. Why do you think it is that his team is bringing him along slowly like some prospect trying to get some experience?

Do you think its because they DON'T think he's damaged?

LOL .. think about it.