The Difference in "levels" between TRULY elite Cotto, vs soccer player Sergio...

Irony? or IRONKNEE!!?

 

Here's a fight with a guy with one ACTUAL bad leg. Notice how he falls all on his own multiple times whereas Sergio falls from the result of Cotto contacting his face with Cotto's glove.


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Sergio looked crappy all around. Old, slower, not able to get leverage on punches.

I tend to agree that Cotto was always better than Sergio, at least P4P.

I've always viewed Sergio as simply a good fighter in a poor era/division and didn't get all this hype about him being a top p4p fighter up there with Mayweather and Pacquiao. I would have expected a top p4p fighter to not have the problems he did with Paul Williams, and Kelly Pavlik. He was losing to Pavlik after 8. Even Kermit Cintron, who got a gift draw, was still pretty competitive with Serg.

 

There is some truth to this, boxing from childhood does make a difference. cotto was more well schooled.
I never bought into the Martinez hype, he was good but not as great as people make out. Prime for prime Martinez would perform better than he did but Cotto would still have a decent chance of beating him, it could go either way. All this talk about Cotto would have no chance against a younger healthy Sergio is hyberbole.
Sergio always had flaws, keeps his hands low and never had the best chin, Cotto's solid fundamentals, boxing IQ and punching ability would always give him a good chance of exploiting those Sergio's flaws. Of course a prime Martinez would always have a good chance too, Cotto isn't the most elusive himself and Martinez hits hard and is the bigger man.

 

Sergio was A level at his best..but he has noticeably slipped the last couple of years. His style was entirely based on speed and movement. When he had the movement and his legs were healthy he would have made Cotto look silly.

 

Yeah, people have short term memory. The first time I saw him fight Buema, I was shocked at his speed, both hand and foot. That Sergio was about 33 and close to his prime. The Sergio that fought last Saturday was not only old/shot, but had only one leg to fight with. They aren't even in the same ball park.

It is true that he had flaws with his unorthodox style but so did Roy Jones and he was able to beat other elite fighters because his speed/reflexes were so overwhelming.

 

Sergio had some impressive wins on his resume...after all he was the LINEAL CHAMP...let's not forget that fact...and he never fought a fighter with the tenacity of Miguel, and specially with a true boxer's friendly trainer!

 

I don't know about that. Cotto has a good boxing IQ, good footwork and good timing. Martinez would have performed better, maybe won but I doubt he would make Cotto look silly. Would have been a good fight imo.

 

A think a prime Sergio overwhelms Cotto at some point with his superior size, power and speed. Being the superior boxer only takes you so far. Check the Margo 1 fight or the Trout fight. Difference in size, power, speed, etc all matter, not just boxing skills.

 

Cotto beat a crippled and shot to pieces old man, calm the f.uck down

Cotto got schooled by Austin Trout, should give you an idea of his actual level. Prime Martinez would have smashed him easy work

 

That is certainly a possibility however I don't actually think the difference in power speed and skill is all that great.
The size difference is one division and we have all seen smaller men beat bigger men.
Martinez is more powerful but again skill can overcome that and Cotto also hits hard enough to hurt Sergio. Sergio does not have Margo's chin or Floyd's defense.
I don't think there is much difference in speed. Martinez is usually fighting bigger, slower opposition than Cotto's so that makes him seem faster. Cotto has fought smaller faster opponents and never really looked all that slow.

A prime Martinez could beat Cotto but IMO it's not as much of a sure thing as some people think.

 

Paul williams started boxing the same age as cotto, had a better amateur career and what happened vs a healthy martinez? Stop with that "well schooled" ****, starting late in boxing is not a good idea but a prime martinez made it work.

 

If you are saying a prime best version of Martinez then you should do the same for Cotto and not use Trout as your example because that wasn't the best version of Cotto.