Miguel Cotto Vs Shane Mosley - Brilliant boxing matching

Both of them were fantastic.

I really miss Cotto. Pure professional every fight. A real credit to boxing and could be considered a near great.

 

Never seen it. I’ll have to give it a watch.

 

Me too

 

Indeed.

 

Think I’ve seen it but can’t remember. Will have to give it a watch.

 

Well it was a good fight, but strangely enough it left me with a little lingering doubt about Cotto, and was one of the reasons why I picked Margarito to beat him the following year.

Cotto looked a bit shaky to me in the late rounds against Mosley, backtracking way too much, seeming to run out of steam a little and as a result he almost blew the fight (I had him hanging on to win, but wouldn't grumble too much with your 114-114 card, @UndergroundBoxing .).

It made me think that maybe there was that little bit of resolve just lacking in pressure moments with Cotto, and that he'd have trouble against someone with exceptional stamina and who wasn't deterred by his power at 147. In the end what I feared against Margarito came to pass, albeit the wraps controversy does throw the result into doubt in hindsight.

As for why there was no rematch, I guess the window wasn't all that big. Mayweather (had he not temporarily 'retired') was the obvious fight for Cotto in 2008 and by far and away the fight everyone was yearning for. Once that went up in smoke Margarito was probably next cab off the rank as it was going to be (though ultimately wasn't) a unification fight, a big Mexico versus Puerto Rico showdown and probably more lucrative than a Mosley rematch at that point.

The sheer money that Pacquiao brought to the table, plus the fact that Arum could keep it all in-house, meant that Cotto was always going to be directed that way on the comeback trail (Pacquiao at Welter had seemed unimaginable not long before) and by 2010 the Mayweather hammering, plus poor performance against Mora, had pretty much confirmed that Mosley wasn't an elite fighter anymore.

So in short - not all that much time for a return, and no real necessity as neither man was stuck for good opponents elsewhere.

 

I understand that many see the Cotto-Margarito rematch as some sort of vindication for an alleged cheater in Margarito, but Margarito was taken to the cleaners twice before the second Cotto fight. The whippings he took from Mosley and Pacquiao were vicious and the latter left him physically altered forever. Personally, I don't think the Cotto-Margarito rematch was a clear indicator of Cotto's superiority.

In regard to the Cotto-Mosley fight, I think I edged it to Cotto but I recall thinking that a draw or even a Mosley win would have been okay, too. It was definitely a high level contest, although I think a prime Mosley stops Cotto late.

 

Cotto had some excellent victories leading up to his battle with Mosley: the beatdown of Chop Chop Corley, the brawl and coming off the floor to KO undefeated Ricardo Torres, smacking Paulie Malignaggi around for 12, destroying fellow Puerto Rican Carlos Quintana and winning the Fight of the Year against Zab Judah.

Mosley was building himself back up by taking fights on ESPN and on the undercard of various PPV's, getting back his confidence after those 4 losses and putting himself in line for another title shot. The Cotto fight was what he wanted and needed.

I had Cotto winning but was disappointed that Mosley didn't pressure more often. After the losses to Forrest and Wright, I felt Sugar Shane bottled it and with the way he lost to Cotto this all but confirmed he didn't have the heart I thought he did. I might be a bit harsh but damnit Sugar Shane won me some bucks against DeLaHoya.

Great thread topic, by the way. I hadn't watched this fight in quite some time and these posts always give us fellow posters incentive to watch them again.

Great thread

 

I agree. Mosley was never the same after the Forrest fights. With the exception of the Margarito fight, he often seemed…passive? Lacked ideas? I don’t know. But I never thought he was pound for pound level again after that and had a lot of flat performances.

 

I agree with a lot of this and it’s sort of how I felt regarding this fight and Cotto.

 

Yes, "passive" is the word I was looking for! Thank you!!

He fired his father as head trainer and would sometimes blame a stiff back for lackluster performances. Maybe roid/HGH use took away his offensive flurries? I could only speculate. There were times where I would grind my teeth and clench my fists from his inactivity - basically gun shy. Man was it frustrating.

He beat up punching bag Ricardo Mayorga but Margarito was really the last hurrah. After that the Sugar wasn't sweet anymore.

 

I’d have liked to have seen him go out on top after the Margarito fight. That was one of my favourite performances and I was so happy to see him win that.

I don’t think I was aware of the steroid thing at that point, which has subsequently soured me on Shane, but at the time I thought it was great and it felt like one of the good guys coming out on top.