Cotto is a very skilled boxer with decent ring generalship, great left hook, great footwork against lesser competitors yet all of his assets go out the window when faced with an adversary he can't dominate. Sergio was a shell of his former self, yet even with 2 bad legs, no leverage for punching power, concussion, Cotto still couldn't put him away. Sarmiento stopped the fight. Cotto didn't have the confidence to walk down Sergio even after dropping him 3 times in the first round, he was still making Sergio come to him, which was a good strategy and sensible boxing, although it might have been out of fear that even a crippled Martinez still had enough pop to hurt him. Cotto was a beast at 140, Pretty good at 147, and mediocre at 154. Cotto was dominated by Pacquiao,Margarito,Mayweather and Trout. Cotto barely beat Mosley, Clottey, both should be draws and Paulie made it closer than it should be. Cotto beat a crippled Margarito, Martinez, Foreman, and Mayorga broke his hand. Making Cotto's best untainted wins Corley, Bailey, Judah(tainted by low blows),Adullaev, Torres, Gomez, Quintana and Rodriguez. Cotto at middleweight will lose to everyone, thankfully for him he'll duck most of them. GGG retires him savagely. Quillin too big KO's him. Sturm outjabs him wins on points even now. Rubio walks him down like Margarito brutally KO's him. Stevens destroys him early with a left hook like Pacquiao did in round 4. Lemieux destroys him early nasty left hook as well. Vera stops him on accumulation of damage, don't let BKB fool you. Chudinov and Khytrov young and inexperienced but still beat the f**k out of him and stop him. Lee 7 inch height and reach advantage very rangy KO's him. Saunders wins on points maybe late stoppage. Geale too awkward for him wins on points. Murata wrecks him and stops him in 5. Jacobs wins by KO. Korobov outpoints him possible late KO. Heiland possibly KO's him. Rosado wins by late KO. N'Dam win on points or late stoppage. Canelo stops him or outpoints him. Derevyanchenko mauls him Murray outpoints him or KO's him late. Castano possibly beats him on points Taylor outboxes possibly TKO's him. Gary O'Sullivan could KO him, John Ryder could possibly KO him. Jason Quigley brutally stops him. Tony Harrison decapitates him. Tureano Johnson mauls him. Willie Monroe Jr. could possibly outbox him. Antoine Douglas outboxes him. Orlando Fiordigiglio KO's him. Cotto may be able to beat Macklin, and Soliman. While I'm at it JMW Andrade shuts him out Lara Shuts him out Molina confuses and outpoints. Kirkland mauls and stops him. Both Charlos outpoint him. John Jackson KO's him possibly. Miguel may have a chance at beating Vanes, Rabchenko, Baysangurov, Maciel, Ishe or K9. And people wonder why he doesn't want to fight GGG.
The dude just put on a clinic versus Martinez and you say this.... most said that a 60% Martinez would whoop him and Cotto came out in 1 round, 1 round and put it on Martinez like none have. The Knee issue... well 3 MRI's before the fight all confirmed he was ready and prepared for the right. Even now, Martinez still says it wasn't the Knee and is coming back.
Sergio has too much pride for his own good, he's lying. Most people after having a tumor taken out of their head are given the all clear after a few MRI's but it probably wouldn't be a good idea to take a head shot to test it out.
The Martinez win looks great on paper, but I think most people know that was a really bad version of Sergio and probably shouldn't rely too heavily on it when predicting Cotto fights, I don't think he'd lose to as many as you said but he is definitely beatable at 160.
Vera and Rosado don't have a chance quickly looking at it. I also don't rate Quillin, Lee and Lemieux. If those fights you mentioned happened I also doubt he'd be KO'd by as many as you think.
Cotto at MW Soliman Sturm Lemieux Stevens Vera Chudinov Khytrov Lee Saunders Macklin Korobov Rosado Cotto at JMW Molina Kirkland Martirosyan Baysangurov Maciel John Jackson Just deleting the guys I would pick over him or have to think long and hard about casually, I came up with these guys as those I would pick Cotto to defeat. Some of them would be pretty big upsets if he lost.
If Rosado could rock Quillen demolish Soto Karass in 5, and last 7 with GGG. Vera took everything Chavez threw and didn't go down, beat Mora twice and lasted 8 rounds with Kirkland. They both have a good chance. I don't rate Lee or Quillen either, but Andy has 7 inches on him and packs a pretty good punch. Quillen sucks but is skilled enough and hits hard enough to stop Cotto, Lemieux in beast mode would beat the **** out of Cotto. Floyd rocked Cotto in the 12th, MW's hit alot harder than Floyd.
We've yet to see how Cotto can take a punch at MW, but the fact that Floyd hurt him in the 12th, and he wasn't reacting well late to Trout's shots at 154 that tells me alot.Cotto is far more skilled than most of the fighters you named but alot of them have power to equalize the fight. Stevens and Lemieux as unskilled as they are run roughshod over alot of MW's and most JMW"s and would be a brutally tough fight for Cotto.
He has his dad's chin but he also has similar KO power, if landed the shot he dropped Lee with on Cotto, who knows how well Cotto would take it, its not far fatched, 18 matches 15 KO's.
Cotto looked rejuvenated, looked strong, but I won't be truly convinced until he gives Trout that rematch. If he can blast him out like he did Maravilla I'm a believer. Maravilla since the last 3 yrs or so been too injury prone and injuries happen in boxing, but his decline was very noticeable before the Cotto fight.