I am not sure first ballot. First ballot are sometimes reserved for atg. That is the differentiation at times. Now his career looks good he just beat Martinez, but in retrospect the loss to Margarito and Trout and Pacman and his inconsistency will come up, and the first ballot thing might not be as clear. There are many guys still waiting to be accepted into the HOF who maybe shouldbe in there. I love Arturo Gatti and thought he was exciting and a warrior, but he should not have gone in before more worthy guys. Even Donald Curry deserved it more than Arturo Gatti. Some might say Donald deserves it more than Cotto.
At 39-4, 32 KOs....3 weight class titles, including the lineal MW title....1st ballot HOF.....DCurry was formidable...but no HOF, 6 loses...including 4 of last 6...and prior to come back lost 3 of last 5....
Not really sure where you would draw the arbitrary line for ATG status but it should be drawn North of Cotto's accomplishments. However unifying at MW or a win over Floyd or Manny would put him there IMO!
This completely. Lineal MW title against a past prime guy who got beaten by Martin Murray in his previous fight. Donald Curry is a HOF based on his H2H ability and the guys he did beat. In fact, whenever I've had a discussion about this with highly knowledgeable posters, the posters always swing in favour of Curry in a fight against Mayweather. It shows complete ignorance in Curry to describe him the way you did and indicative of a lack of knowledge in boxing. Sure, Curry lacked longevity and you don't realise that with his fight against Honeyghan, it was a winnable fight for him but he was no longer the same fighter, he looked completely dead in that fight. There's zero reason to believe that he's an ATG. He isn't even as great as Shane Mosley or even Felix Trinidad who are the lowest tier of ATG's.
yes.. absolutely.. he was 50/50 an ATG before becoming the first 4 weight champ from PR. now its basically set in stone
how can you guys talk lineal if he fought at catchweights for that title? Any catchweights makes the win a tainted. If you fight for a title fight at the weight and let your opponet also. 3 weight classes? Barkley did that too. And Barkley beat an ATG 2 times to get 2 of them. Cotto lost to Trout. He he is good but not great and never will be. I don't know what to think about Martinez, but I don't think Cotto is great. lineal title means nothing. Doesn't make any sort of sense and it does not make a guy greater.
Look past their records, Curry's undisputed reign means so much more than Cotto's paper titles (before his MW win). He had an embarrassing decline but before that he looked to have all the makings for an ATG. H2H it ain't even close, Cotto would've gotten blown out. HOF don't mean jack now but Donald deserves to be in that ****.
Cotto is more of a Gatti to me ... he's lost to the elite guys. Yeah he beat martinez but come on the guy was obviously hiding his glass knees with those pants and braces he was wearing in the ring.
He slips in the atg list his resume is stacked fought the best if the best 4 weight divisions lineal middleweight belt and hes not done yet
What are you talking about? . I'm not even comparing Hearns and Floyd. I was replying to the ridiculous implication that somehow, Gatti is in the same league as Hearns. Hearns has a better resume than Floyd, of course. Better era, he fought better opposition, and nothing on Floyd's resume is even remotely close to a 1982 Benitez. Benitez definitely was. His titles in 3 divisions were considerably more impressive than Cotto's in 4. El Radar beat better fighters for his titles, when it was harder to win world titles. 2 were lineal, and he dethroned champs rather than beating fringe contenders for vacant crowns. Benitez was also better than Trinidad. Cotto was a lot better than Gatti. Gatti didn't just lose to the best, he lost to guys like Angel Manfredy, Ivan Robinson, and Micky Ward (which I had a draw). Cotto had better wins and better abilities. He's not an ATG though. Doesn't have the ability nor the resume of wins to be an ATG.