Floyd straight up ducked Cotto in 2008

[Xi_]

The beat down would've been way worse at 147 cause floyd was actually prime at that weight.

[Metho_4u]

The beat down would've been way worst at 147 cause floyd was actually prime at that weight.

Can you imagine 140?

[GrandmasterWang]

@6:40 Hatton calls out Mayweather



Floyd's immediate reaction was to contact Ellerbe and tell him to make the Hatton fight.

But when Cotto calls out Mayweather, here was Floyd's reaction:

Evidence is clear. Thanks for that. Prime Cotto was a beast!

[RSBonos]

He was busy fighting Big Show.

[sugar ray lenrd]

Chollo Vista,
Right on bro! That's exactly how it went down. The bottom line is why did Floyd retired? The welterweight division was stacked with;
Mosley, Cotto, Margarito, Williams & Mayweather. So while he is retired the aforementioned fighters fought each other.

Chollo Vista, that was an excellent post & demonstration of how it went down.

[rickJen]

Told ya Pretty Boy32 and his buddies are extremely butthurt by this thread.
Pretty Boy32 already started another anti-Pac thread.
Haha... Chollo Vista don't even give a f about Pac.

[Calabis]

I don't know what is worse...you posting random vids or trying to discredit the fact that no contract was ever offered by Cotto. Hell I posted a article with facts of how he already had fights lined up via Arum and top Rank....yet you act like he was all in on Mayweather.

Mayweather said he believes that Bruseles was the stalking horse for a potential Cotto fight – a left-hook specialist, and also trained by Cotto's uncle and then-trainer, Evangelista Cotto – and when the result was a lopsided eighth-round stoppage, during which Mayweather twice engaged HBO's ringside announcers with quick commentary on upcoming NFL playoff games while engaging in a live prizefight, Top Rank quietly ditched the plan.

Mayweather was trying to break way. Everyone knew it. Top Rank president Bob Arum, who would have loved to hang him with a loss on the way out the door, opted against risking a loss for Cotto instead.

“I think that was the tester,” Mayweather said. “Puerto Rican, identical style – if you go back and look at Henry Bruseles, identical style – comes from the Cotto camp, same trainer at that particular time, which was his uncle. And Bruseles, he tried. I gave him the opportunity. He tried but I was the better man.”

In the end, Arum stuck with the right guy. Not long after the Gatti win, Mayweather bought out his promotional contract. Cotto stayed with Top Rank until last year.

Since Mayweather seems to be your thorn in the side...here:

By Gav Duthie: Everyone has an opinion on why Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao have not yet fought. It would be ignorant of me to try and convince anyone either way who is to blame as most are on one side or another and that won’t change.

If you blame Mayweather that’s fine, no problem, what I don’t like is the throw away comments about him ducking this or cherry picking that. With the exception of Pacquiao is there anyone else he should have fought in the past but didn’t? I thought I would have a proper look back at his career and assess the situation.

1998

Top 5 P4P

1. Oscar De La Hoya
2. Roy Jones Jnr
3. Evander Holyfield
4. Felix Trinidad
5. Mark Johnson

Floyd Mayweather debuted in 1996 after winning the bronze medal medal in the Atlanta Olympics. I start at 1998 because this was the first year that Mayweather was recognised in the top ten p4p by ring magazine featuring at #8. He achieved this goal when he stopped the normally durable Angel Manfredy in only 2 rounds to win the WBC Super Featherweight title.

2001

Super featherweight 130 lbs

1. Floyd Mayweather Jnr
2. Diego Corrales
3. Jong-kwon Baek
4. Robert Garcia
5. Lakva Sim
6. Yong Soo Choi
7. Jesus Chavez
8. Acelino Freitas
9. Derrick Gainer
10. Goyo Vargas

Mayweather stayed in the Super featherweight division for three years whilst he learned his craft. During this time his biggest fight was undoubtedly against the late giant Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales. Mayweather destroyed him over 10 rounds knocking him down 5 times on route to victory. Of this list he also beat Jesus Chavez and Goyo Vargas, another respectable win he had at 130lbs was against Carlos Hernandez where he controversially suffered the only knockdown of his career after a head butt.

Is there anyone else on this list that was a MUST fight. Not for me. Ironically you have Marcos Maidana’s trainer Robert Garcia in at number 4. Garcia was a decent boxer in his own right but even he would never have claimed to being able to beat Mayweather. Acelino Freitas was fairly dominant for a while after he beat Casamayor in 2002. A fight against Freitas or Casamayor would have been interesting but not box office.

2001 p4p

1. Shane Mosley
2. Bernard Hopkins
3. Jones Jnr
4. Marco Antonio Barrera
5. Floyd Mayweather

After the Corrales win Floyd went into the top 5 pound for pound for the first time and apart from his brief retirement has been there ever since. I remember at the time he was linked to fights against #4 Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales but again they were not avoided as neither mexican fought at 130lbs until 2004.

2002

Lightweight 135 lbs

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Jose Luis Castillo
3. Stevie Johnston
4. Paul Spadafora
5. Leonard Dorin
6. Juan Lazcano
7. Angel Manfredy
8. Acelino Freitas
9. Artur Grogorian
10. Victoriano Sosa

In 2002 Mayweather moved up to the lightweight division and challenged tough mexican champion Jose Luis Castillo in his first fight. This bout if any is the one fight where I thought Mayweather had lost. Castillo’s size and strength advantages were apparent and he managed to bully Floyd for much of the fight landing some big shots. In fairness to Floyd he could have avoided the rematch after such a tough fight but he gave Castillo the second chance. The next instalment was once again close but “Pretty Boy” Floyd got the nod.

From the Ring Magazine lightweight list of 2002 the obvious name that jumps out is Paul Spadafora. Spaddy was also a lightweight champion when he outpointed Angel Manfredy. He and Floyd were already seen as rivals after Spadafora’s dominant sparring session over him in 1999. Floyd didn’t really hang around at 130 for too long as the Jnr welterweight division was packed with talent and he clearly wanted to be involved in these fights. Floyd started to call out Arturo Gatti after he destroyed dangerous puncher Phillip Ndou.

2004

Light Welterweight

1. Kostya Tszyu IBF
2. Arturo Gatti WBC
3. Vivian Harris WBA
4. Floyd Mayweather
5. Sharmba Mitchell
6. Miguel Cotto WBO
7. Ricky Hatton
8. Zab Judah
9. Lovemore N’dou
10. Jesse James Leija

I feel at this point Floyd was really coming into his stride. The light welterweight division was littered with talent and Floyd pursued many of the big fights. Of this top ten Floyd fought Arturo Gatti, Sharmba Mitchell, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton and Zab Judah. In 2004 Kostya Tszyu was the main man at the weight but a fight between those two would have been on the Russian’s terms and he lost and retired after his fight with Ricky Hatton in 2005 which made the opportunity for this fight limited to a short space of time.

2007

Welterweight 147lbs

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Miguel Cotto
3. Paul Williams
4. Shane Mosley
5. Antonio Margarito
6. Zab Judah
7. Kermot Cintron
8. Luis Collazo
9. Joshua Clottey
10. Oktay Urkal

After Zab Judah’s stunning knockout victory in a rematch against Cory Spinks there was a big call for a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather. Unfortunately a certain Carlos Baldomir hadn’t read the script and beat Judah in what was considered no more than a warm up fight. Floyd did the only thing he could do in my opinion which was to keep his obligation to fight Judah and then fight Carlos Baldomir. There were probably a few other fights at 147 he could have taken like Margarito or Paul Williams but he understandably took a bigger challenge in moving up to 154lbs to fight Oscar De La Hoya. Mayweather won a close controversial split decision and then went back down to Welterweight for another career defining fight against Ricky Hatton 43-0. After his tenth round stoppage win he retired and for me there was no real fights that he hadn’t taken at this stage.

2010

Welterweight 147lbs

1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Floyd Mayweather
3. Andre Berto
4. Miguel Cotto
5. Shane Mosley
6. Joshua Clottey
7. Jan Zaveck
8. Vyacheslav Senchenko
9. Rafal Jackiewicz
10. Tim Bradley

During Mayweather’s 2 year hiatus from 2007-2009 the baton was firmly passed on to Pacquaio. He won a second fight with Barrera and a split decision rematch against nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez. In 2008 he bettered both of Mayweather’s performances with an 8 round dismantling of De La Hoya followed by a destructive second round knock out over Ricky Hatton. Mayweather then came back in 09 getting one back after he dominated Marquez over 12 rounds something Pacquiao has never been able to do. Then we all thought that it was primed for the two to meet in the ring. That clearly didn’t happen and as I said before this article isn’t about that its about Mayweather in general and if he ducks big fights.

Again on this list from 2010 some have drifted into obscurity (Zaveck, Jackiewicz) some have went backwards (Berto) and some have improved (Bradley). Again of this list probably Tim Bradley is the only fight that could have happened but we know this was impossible due to Floyd’s relationship with Bob Arum. He followed the Marquez win with Shane Mosley after he had beaten Margarito.

Today

Welterweight 147

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Tim Bradley
4. Juan Manuel Marquez
5. Marcos Maidana
6. Kell Brook
7. Keith Thurman
8. Shawn Porter
9. Devon Alexander
10. Amir Khan

Light Middleweight 154lbs

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Saul Alvarez
3. Erislandy Lara
4. Carlos Molina
5. Demetrius Andrade

Floyd has drifted between 147 and 154 over the last few years at a very advanced age to try and get the biggest fights. He beat Ortiz and then Guerrero after wins against Andre Berto and facing Canelo was a big risk considering the size difference.

If you learn anything from these rankings it is that they change so quickly with flash in the pan fighters and overhyped prospects but Mayweather always remains. There is always someone else to fight but not all of them can happen. Some might say Mayweather should fight Keith Thurman next, UK fans might say he should fight Brook or Khan, or maybe Danny Garcia deserves a chance, perhaps he should move up and fight Andrade or Kirkland. There are some that even say he should fight Golovkin but how do we know where these guys will be in another two years and he cannot fight them all. I wasn’t convinced by Maidana as an opponent but his win against Broner put him in that position.

Conclusion

Perhaps Mayweather these days does look at fights with dollar signs first but nobody can truly say he doesn’t still fight quality opponents. Trying to remain as neutral as possible summarizing his career I don’t think he has really ducked anyone. Besides the Pacquiao situation, where I’m not sure who to blame, he has fought at a great level his whole career. Yes there are other fights that perhaps should have happened but did he duck them.

Potential fights

Spadafora (2000)
Freitas (2002)
Tszyu (2004)
Pacquiao (2010)
Bradley (2013)

Still you could go through any fighters resume with a fine tooth comb even Mohammed Ali, Ray Leonard and Ray Robinson and find fights that could have happened but didn’t. If the Pacquiao fight never happens that will always be a blight on his record but as for the rest of it hats off to an amazing career so far.

[Chollo Vista]

I don't know what is worse...you posting random vids or trying to discredit the fact that no contract was ever offered by Cotto.

Random vids? Those random vids are evidence of Floyd ducking.

I don't know which is worse, you acting like I didn't debunk each lie that you posted in that flawed article you posted or you not even having the balls to quote me and hoping I wouldn't see more of your smoke and mirrors.

Again, Cotto did no more than what Hatton did. Hatton says he wants to fight Floyd and Floyd immediately comes out of retirement and tells Ellerbe to make the fight. Cotto says he'll fight Floyd and you saw his reaction when asked by Merchant.

And in case you missed how I debunked every lie you posted, here it is again:

Who from the Cotto camp said this? This was Chris Ackerman providing his opinion on how people in the Cotto camp felt.



Here were the 2004, Ring Rankings:

Kostya Tszyu, Champion
Arturo Gatti
Vivian Harris
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Sharmba Mitchell
Miguel Cotto
Ricky Hatton
DeMarcus Corley
Lovemore N'dou
Jesse James Leija
Oktay Urkal

In 2004, FMJ beat Demarcus Corley. That's it.
In 2004, Cotto beat Sosa, N'dou, Pinto and Randall Bailey.

In 2005, here were Ring's Rankings:

Ricky Hatton, Champion
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Miguel Cotto
Kostya Tszyu
Jose Luis Castillo
Junior Witter
Carlos Maussa
Arturo Gatti
Vivian Harris
DeMarcus Corley
Lovemore N'dou

In 2005, FMJ beat Henry Bruseles and Arturo Gatti.
In 2005, Cotto beat Corley, Abdullaev and Torres.

In summary, Floyd's JWW resume consisted of Bruseles, Gatti
and Demarcus Corely.

In summary, Cotto's JWW resume consisted of Martinez, Maussa, Sosa, N'dou, Pinto, Randall Bailey, Corley, Abdullaev, Torres, Branco, and Malignaggi.

Floyd's JWW resume isn't that much better than Cotto's; if at all. Cotto beat more JWW's. If you like to count Gatti as the end all be all, go ahead.

But explain how Mayweather was beating the top JWW's (plural), by beating Gatti, Corley and Bruseles?

In summary, whoever this author is, is lying.





At the end of 2006, Mayweather beat Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir at 147.

At the end of 2006, Cotto had the WBA by beating Quintana.

Mayweather unified, but wasn't undisputed. He would've had to beat Cotto to do that.



Mayweather beat Oscar at 154 and Hatton at 147. Notice Floyd didn't beat not one top Welterweight all year. Let's look at the Ring's top Welterweights at the end of 2007:

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Champion
Miguel Cotto
Paul Williams
Shane Mosley
Antonio Margarito
Zab Judah
Kermit Cintron
Luis Collazo
Joshua Clottey
Jackson Osei Bonsu
Oktay Urkal

As it stands, in 2007, Mayweather beat Hatton and DLH. Mayweather did NOT beat 1 Top 10 Welterweight. Not one.

As it stands, in 2007, Cotto beat Urkal, Judah and Mosley. Cotto beat 3 top 10 Welterweights at the end of 2007.





Why is this guy lying?

@1:38, Cotto says "Mayweather, Hatton, Margarito, De La Hoya, Whoever they put in front of me, I'll fight".



This is the 2nd time that when asked about Mayweather, Cotto has said he will fight him along with anyone else at 147. Stop lying.



That's probably because in December 2007, here's what Floyd had to say regarding facing Cotto:



"I don't want to call out no Welterweights. I'm going to retire from the sport of boxing before the sport of boxing retires me".

It's kind of hard to negotiate with a retired fighter that made it quite clear to Larry Merchant that he wanted no part of Miguel Cotto when asked.




Again, in Nov 2007, Cotto said he would fight Floyd Mayweather:

@1:38, Cotto says "Mayweather, Hatton, Margarito, De La Hoya, Whoever they put in front of me, I'll fight".



In Dec 2007, Floyd Mayweather said this:

In December 2007, here's what Floyd had to say regarding facing Cotto:






Are you hard of hearing? Because Floyd Mayweather said this:



Was Cotto supposed to wait 2 years for Mayweather to come out of retirement before he fought again?



If Mayweather doesn't retire, Cotto vs Mayweather happens instead.



Cotto was in no condition to fight Mayweather because Mayweather was....... you guessed it, retired



Interesting that Mayweather fought Cotto 4 years after all this.



If we're talking 140 lb resume's:

Mayweather's resume looks like Gatti, Bruseles and Corley

Cotto's looks like this: Martinez, Maussa, Sosa, N'dou, Pinto, Randall Bailey, Corley, Abdullaev, Torres, Branco, and Malignaggi.

I think Cotto had the better JWW resume.

So again, why was Floyd "supposedly" ok with fighting Cotto in 2005, but not 2007?







Yeah, he won numerous belts by beating Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir in 2006. Floyd didn't fight not on Welterweight in 2007. Not one before retiring.




Maybe because Floyd said this:



along with Cotto lives too far and isn't a PPV star.






Yes, there is, he said it right here:






Last I checked, Cotto clearly said this

@1:38, Cotto says "Mayweather, Hatton, Margarito, De La Hoya, Whoever they put in front of me, I'll fight".






Lol think again. That post got destructed

[Chollo Vista]

Told ya Pretty Boy32 and his buddies are extremely butthurt by this thread.
Pretty Boy32 already started another anti-Pac thread.
Haha... Chollo Vista don't even give a f about Pac.

Chollo Vista,
Right on bro! That's exactly how it went down. The bottom line is why did Floyd retired? The welterweight division was stacked with;
Mosley, Cotto, Margarito, Williams & Mayweather. So while he is retired the aforementioned fighters fought each other.

Chollo Vista, that was an excellent post & demonstration of how it went down.

He was busy fighting Big Show.

Evidence is clear. Thanks for that. Prime Cotto was a beast!

How can you dispute video evidence with timelines and rankings included?

These guys are even trying to go back to 2004 and 2005 to excuse what Floyd did in 2007/2008. And even then, their 2005 excuse got dismantled.

I mean I can understand dis*****g heresay, but when you're on video ducking and when Uncle Roger knows you're supposed to fight the Mosley vs Cotto winner, there's no dis*****g that.

[Robbie Barrett]

2010: Did Cotto duck Mayweather?
March 9th, 2010
By Alexander Fugate:

People first became interested in a Maywether-Cotto match-up around 2005 when both fought at 140 pounds. However, most thought Cotto still needed some more experience before stepping up to someone as good as Mayweather. This was pointed out by Chris Ackerman of Doghouseboxing.com on October 16, 2005 when he reported, “…no one in the Cotto camp is foolish enough to look for it (a fight with Mayweather) anytime soon. They know, as do most analysts, that Cotto has a lot of things to work on before he is ready for the likes of Floyd Mayweather.”

At the time Kosta Tszyu, Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayeather, and Arturo Gatti were all in the 140 pound division; Hatton retired Tszyu and Mayweather dismantled Gatti. Cotto never fought any of these fighters who sat atop the division he fought in.

A Mayweather-Cotto bout seemed inevitable in 2007 or 2008. At the end of 2006 Mayweather had unified the WBC, IBF, IBO, IBA, and Ring magazine championships and was the lineal champ. Despite all these titles, no offer came from Cotto.

Then after Mayweather defeated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton in 2007, he was considered the number one pound for pound fighter by every credible source and one of the biggest draws in boxing history. For Cotto a fight with Mayweather would have wielded him his biggest payday and with a win, recognition as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, if not the best. However, Cotto never made any offer to Mayweather and instead, in January 2008, agreed to fight Alfonzo Gomez. Gomez was a journeyman who had appeared on The Contender television show, with amazingly few known opponents. This bout was scheduled on the undercard of Margarito-Cintron II. This was done to built up hype for a Cotto-Margarito showdown. Michael Swann of CBSsports.com reported, “No one expected Gomez to beat Cotto or even provide much of a challenge.” Mr. Swann went on, “Cotto needed a tune-up bout… in preparation for his July 26 meeting with the Kermit Cintron-Antonio Margarito winner.” So a month after Mayweather knocked out Ricky Hatton, Cotto had his next two bouts already planned, with neither of the opponents being named Floyd Mayweather Jr. This is an interesting move if Cotto really had any desire to face Mayweather. If Cotto was so intent on facing Mayweather why did he schedule his next two fights without attempting to get Mayweather in the ring with him first?

And as we all know, Margarito gave Cotto a gruesome beating; a beating many suspect Margarito accomplished through wrapping his hands with a plaster-like substance. Regardless of if Margarito cheated against Cotto or not, after that fight Cotto was in no condition to fight Mayweather. After beating Michael Jennings, Cotto won a controversial decision over Joshua Clottey that left most analysts with the believe that Cotto was damaged goods at best and shot at worst.

After Clottey, Cotto was quick to sign to fight Manny Pacquiao. This fight made him plenty of money, but Cotto was forced to weigh-in at 145 pounds, lighter than his normal weight. Cotto agreed to this catch-weight despite his well known history of severely struggling earlier in his career to make 140 pounds. Also, Cotto was only offered a 35% cut of the purse. Despite the big payday, Cotto suffered another beating and severely damaged his marketability.

Throughout his entire career, Miguel Cotto never made one offer to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. At 140 pounds, no one realistically thought Cotto was experienced enough for Mayweather and Cotto never fought any of the top four fighters at that weight. When Mayweather won numerous belts at 147, no offer was forthcoming from the Cotto camp. When Mayweather received a $15 million guarantee against Hatton, where was the $10-$20 million offer from Cotto? No where, instead he scheduled Gomez, and the winner of Margarito-Cintron II. If one actually looks at the facts, there is no argument to be made that Mayweather ever ducked Cotto. However, there can be a strong argument made that Cotto ducked Mayweather despite Floyd possessing numerous titles and a potential record payday for Cotto.

2012: While it seems that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum isn’t too excited about matching his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao up with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May, Arum also doesn’t appear to want Mayweather fighting one of his guys WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. Arum told the Manila Standard “They are not going to get him [Cotto].”

Arum stated that Mayweather would have fought Margarito for the 8 million, but he wanted a guaranteed 10 million to fight Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton. Arum only guaranteed him 7 million. And for those who don’t know Cotto and Hatton were at the Mayweather-Gatti fight and Cotto was ranked number 5 by the ring at the time (Proof: Listen to the commentary Jim Lampley at the end of round 5) . Cotto had just moved up to the 140 pound weight class and he didn’t make an offer to fight Mayweather after the Gatti fight.

Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn’t interested in participating in. “That’s not in the cards,” Arum said. “He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It’s not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. We’ll talk about things down the road.” Notice this part Arum was talking.

^^^^THE TRUTH.

Chollo can keep saying Cotto wanted it because he mentioned Mayweathers name once but the fact is Cotto never pursued Mayweather. The fact is Cotto was never that good, he was hyped for a little while that's about it.