That's bull****. His last three performances since losing to Pac have been some of his best, where he boxed excellently and showed a discipline and a focus to stick to a gameplan he hadn't previously. The reason fans say he is shot is because fans today are amongst the worst the sport has ever seen. They'd be rubishing guys like Duran, Hearns and Leonard and calling them shot after their losses to each other. The fans who say he was never any good are mostly all Mayweather fans butthurt from the criticism Mayweather received for not fighting Cotto.
You clearly didn't watch close enough then. Cotto still lost some rounds despite what the HBO telecast would lead you to believe, and he also missed A LOT of punches on a fighter he had almost landed on at will in their first fight. Add to that the two fading performances against Clottey and Mayorga where he was getting gassed by the middle rounds and you see a very clear picture of a man who's past his his very best. Sure he's still a formidable jr. middleweight, but he's also faded some from the fighter he used to be.
I diagree. I saw a small LM who fought 10 hard rounds against Margo. In this fight his speed and movement were excellent. Also, Cotto was strong enough to push Margo around whenever he wanted to. He didn't do the frist fight, but he was physically stronger than Margo this time around, and he showed it. He had Tony rocking whenever he sat down and threw meaninful punches. Cotto has a lot left and I think he is still prime. Sometimes, you just have to get your head straight.
for one margo didnt have the plasters, and secondly he moved a lot more although i think he moved too much and couldve sat on his punchers more than he did.. but cotto is still the same fighter with less punch resistance than he had at the beginning of his career. Is been a while so he could have recover a little bit from those KOs but you never entirely recover from that. :hat
For sure. His head was hunched to the point it was in front of his lead foot, his guard was way too high, his punching form way too reckless. It shows how talented he is competing so well with Pacquiao before he got hurt and started retreating in the mid-rounds. Your points before about his choice to box rather than pressure are valid, considering the size of his opponents, but against Margarito, he wasn't afraid in spots to use his leverage and shorter size to his advantage by pressuring him on the inside. He boxed a lot, sure, but he went to the body and threw combinations we hadn't seen in a while. Hopefully he keeps the momentum going. I agree; his punches were definitely rocking Margarito's head back. Sure, he didn't feel most (if any) of them because he's ****ing Margarito, but Cotto moved him this way and that with his punches like never before. I also noticed him using his momentum against him a lot more, which he did in the 1st fight, but not as much. Whenever I saw him back up against the ropes for the first few times from my overhead view at MSG, I thought, be careful, watch it...and bam, Cotto would set him up with a hard punch, and I started realizing that those moments were largely traps, and he resumed position at the center at will.
Yeah, he did incorporate different tactics in spots as compared to their first fight. I was glad to see that. There were also some spots where I was screaming for him to let the left hook to the body go when they were in-close and he just wouldn't do it. Most of his combinations were exclusively to the head. And at times, he just seemed sort of content to push Margarito back using his strength and just languish on the inside. He even was taking uppercuts in close later on and some shots around the sides to the body, but he sort of looked oblivious to them and looked to be trying to catch his breath/get a short rest. I wish he'd do the type of work shown against Randall Bailey and the like back in the day, but maybe that's too much to ask when he's got a guy 5-11 and 165+ pounds standing toe to toe with him.
Really???? His last 3 performances since Pac Yuri Forman... ughh No comment Mayorga.. Stepping stone.. TV fighter... Warrior but once agin a stepping stone.. Cheto for the second time.. come on without the plaster patna is just a punching bag to real boxers... So please save the thats bull ****.. Cotto in his last 3 have been against flawed BS fighters.. Period..! P.S.. I love Cotto.. just sucks that he was ruined by Cheto the first time around..
I see a big difference when I watch the two fights. He's not shot, but he's definitely past his best.
Good points, but I think Margarito's height and the perceived threat of his punches had a lot to do with it. A left hook to the body leaves you open to an overhand right or a right uppercut in close, especially when your opponent's arms are right at your head-level when on the inside. Hopefully against other opponents Cotto can smother more effectively and let that left to the body rip more frequently.
His decline was never as great as most people said, however it was simple flaws such as being too easy to back up and unable to clinch that people believed there was a blueprint out on how to beat him. He was underrated on here for a long period as well as JMM, I was a fathful fan, good to see them get the props they deserve.