Can you imagine if Sergio Martinez was younger?

[sterling]

This is disrespectful to sergio, he isnt making any excuses and this humbled him. It would still have been the same result i think but sergio would of been more competitive yes. Alot of people dont realize that cotto is very good with southpaws. down 3 times in the first round, sergio was off to a bad start and obviously suffered from that mentally which didnt help him to win the fight.

[joesaiditstrue]

He woukdve still lost.

Cotto has great timing. Good power. An elite jab and cuts the ring off better than EVERY fighter in the game. Martinez was never good enough to beat Miguel.

Skills pay the bills. Chess not checkers.

skills pay the bills? not always.

first RJJ Hopkins fight, Toney vs RJJ, athleticism can trump skills.

Pacquiao vs Cotto

[FerFAL]

How can anyone claim Martinez ever beats Cotto after seeing that?

Some of us arent ******s and can understand the difference between a boxer at his peak and the same boxer well past his prime and shot to pieces full of injuries.

[jcj0427]

It's a dam shame Lou Dibella didnt discover him earlier which woulda made him a more prominent fighter in the boxing world. Reaching true success at the age of 35-36 was a big tease because it meant he would decline rapidly just due to father time. No doubt a healthy Sergio would destroy Cotto.

[HarvardBlue]

Martinez never faced anyone with skills like Cotto. Even though he lost to those fighters Cotto have seen better fighters than Martinez and held his own. I thought the only advantage Martinez had over Cotto was his size but it didn't matter last night and probably wouldn't matter at any point in their careers.

[Ray Corso]

He fought every stiff they could find in Argentina and Spain so what if he did start younger? Does that mean he beats Margerito when he stepped up and lost? Does he beat a mentally & physically weakened Pavlik doesn't beat him if he were in past shape?

Here is Sergio in a nut shell, a good athlete, some natural ability in the ring, learned to move laterally and how to judge distance. From that he learned how to frustrate opposition. With that knowledge you could do pretty well with the right matchmaker and Diabella did a great job for him.

It would make no difference if he started at 12 yrs old or 25yrs. his natural ability took him further than most fighters with equal talents get to.

The right connections means as much as talent in this game!

You see an inspired Cotto who found a trainer who gave him "direction" and "purpose" that's what he was missing for years not his damn left hook!

Ray.