The Underappreciated Legend: Miguel Cotto

[SinderellaMan]

Never ducked anybody. Fought most fighters in their prime.
Mayweather
Pacquiao
Martinez
Canelo
Trout
Margarito (With & Without Plaster)
Judah
Torres
Malignaggi
Clottey (Great fight)
Mosely
Geale

I probably left a few out. Love him or hate him, Cotto was a true warrior.
What a great champion, role model, & family man.

[A-Wolf]

[E-Thug]

What a load of bollocks. If Margarito had plaster in his gloves that first fight, Cotto would be dead because there's no human on this Earth who can take 10 rounds of plaster and not come out differently.

Besides, if Margarito cheated in the first fight then how the hell did Cotto have an extremely successful career post Tony?

[Thuglife Nelo]

Cotto whaling that bomb to Judah's nutts reminds me of Hatton on Canelo in round 7

[Disturbed]

Man had a great, entertaining career. And what a left hook! Fun fighter to watch, wish we could have seen him against Khan, Bradley, Thurman, Danny Garcia or Juan Manuel Marquez back in the day

[boliodogs]

He was a decent fighter who fought his share of good fighters but I think he had some flaws as a fighter and a champion and is often overrated and over appreciated. To say he never ducked anybody just isn't true. He was one of the worst middleweight champions ever. He never once defended his middleweight title at 160 pounds. He won the middleweight title at a catchweight of 159 and then went on vacation for a year before defending it against Geale who GGG had recently crushed and at another catchweight of 157. He would not have fought his obvious challenger GGG at any weight. As champion at 154 he fought some guys who were not top contenders and when he fought Pacquiao he did some really bad running the last half of the fight.

[_Rexy_]

What a load of bollocks. If Margarito had plaster in his gloves that first fight, Cotto would be dead because there's no human on this Earth who can take 10 rounds of plaster and not come out differently.

Besides, if Margarito cheated in the first fight then how the hell did Cotto have an extremely successful career post Tony?

well, it's not like Margs did anything until the sixth or seventh round.

[Butt stuff]

Whilst he likely would've given Martinez fits in his prime, I don't think any list should include his corpse on Cotto's best wins.

[todisday]

What a load of bollocks. If Margarito had plaster in his gloves that first fight, Cotto would be dead because there's no human on this Earth who can take 10 rounds of plaster and not come out differently.

Besides, if Margarito cheated in the first fight then how the hell did Cotto have an extremely successful career post Tony?

That's because Cotto was that damn good. Even after such an assault, he still had enough left in the tank to have a successful career. Just look at the way Cotto moves in that fight. He was entering his prime, and you can see in that fight why Mayweather was ducking him. Dude could brawl, box, and counter punch, all at enough speeds to land against anybody and with more power. Cotto would've dominated that era had it not been for Margarito's plaster. The "damaged goods" version of Cotto everyone kept saying was done gave all those fighters great fights.

[todisday]

He was a decent fighter who fought his share of good fighters but I think he had some flaws as a fighter and a champion and is often overrated and over appreciated. To say he never ducked anybody just isn't true. He was one of the worst middleweight champions ever. He never once defended his middleweight title at 160 pounds. He won the middleweight title at a catchweight of 159 and then went on vacation for a year before defending it against Geale who GGG had recently crushed and at another catchweight of 157. He would not have fought his obvious challenger GGG at any weight. As champion at 154 he fought some guys who were not top contenders and when he fought Pacquiao he did some really bad running the last half of the fight.

Cotto wasn't a middleweight. He wanted the title just because he always had a dream of capturing belts in multiple weight classes before retirement. After he got the championship, Canelo was both a top-level fight and brought way more money. There was no ducking if the level of competition is equal, and the money offer is more.