Who would have won this fight? Miguel usually has the strength and power advantage, but honestly, how does he stack up to Oscar a larger man? Were talking about 5 9 vs 5 11. Both guys were battle tested at 160 (Martinez) (Sturm) and it would be the battle of the left hook monsters! Pacman said Cotto was unbelievable, money said Cotto was the strongest he faced. Cotto went toe to toe with Mosley, but we've all seen him and hoya 2 times was competitive. Who has the better right hand btw? Cotto rocked Ricardo Torres with one. Oscar rocked Fernando vargas with another one. I honestly don't know who would've won this fight! Stack them up in a time you think was best and talk about the outcome.
De La Hoya was better at virtually everything. He wins going forward, backward, or standing in the middle of the ring. To me, there's almost no chance Cotto beats the Mosley that edged DLH in the first fight and I don't think Cotto could have handled Quartey, Vargas, or Trinidad, either. Hell, Cotto arguably lost to a scaled down version of Quartey in Clottey. DLH was debatably great, while Cotto was very good. There isn't a huge gap between them skills wise, but it's sizeable enough to distinguish pretty clearly between who was the better of the two.
ODLH in his prime is a level about Miguel Cotto, i always liked Miguel Cotto as a fighter. But i feel like he's a bit below the very best of the 147 pounders honestly. And Miguel Cotto was not battle tested vs Martinez at 160, that was against a totally shot Martinez after knee surgery. Where he couldn't move properly and his knee wobbled everytime he got hit, Martinez's knee was totally shot in that fight.
That is true, wobbly knees and all! I just remember Oscar having some problems at 160: he was fat giggly fat, Felix Sturm may or may not have won that fight! Questionable w
Yeah to be honest i don't normally like giving excuses, or trying to take away a fighters victory. But Martinez knees were totally shot in that fight, so i don't think i can give much credit to Cotto in that fight. As for ODLH well atleast he was fighting a fit very technically skilled fighter, i think ODLH expected Sturm to be alot easier than he thought, Sturm at the time was a bit of an unknown, so i guess it was a bit of a cherry pick gone wrong for ODLH ? but Sturm done a paintjob on Oscar with the jab, and ODLH could also not penetrate Sturm's tight defence. The fight actually reminds me of Bivol/Canelo, although i think Bivol was more dominant over Canelo than Sturm was over ODLH.
As mentioned, Oscar does everything better, and is bigger. Oscar's left hook is big trouble for Cotto, and DelaHoya chops him down and stops him in 8 or 10 rounds.
I don't know. I think it would be a very close fight. The streak that cotto went on from when he took the titk of pinto until margarito beat him was some run. 2007 he was very special. Judah and mosley and he beat both with ease. He was by far and away my fighter of the year that year. That version of cotto would've run Oscar very close at 147. I think he could've gone on to improve even more but watching fights back several times over the years, its fairly clear that the margarito loss took something from him. I can't put my finger on what it was exactly but just wasn't the same fighter.
What's been massively overlooked in this whole thread is that both of them are left handed men that converted to a southpaw stance. So yeah, Oscar had a great left hook but cotto would in my opinion be able to read it better than most. Both very aggressive with respectable power and great shot selection. Oscar the more naturally gifted fighter but cotto at his best wouldve been one of Oscars toughest fights on his best day at welter.
No disrespect intended but is there a reason for that? He's a professional athlete that shouldn't be competing if they were that debilitating. OK, his legs weren't great but that was a cotto that had moved up from being a natural welter most of his career and he wasn't the fighter he had been years earlier either. The loss to margarito and the beating pacquiao gave him were damaging losses. He had only had two fights at light middle - a loss to trout and a walkover against Rodriguez. That isn't exactly the form that suggests a fighter can move up yet again and beat the champion
In the grand scheme of boxing he is a blip. When you look at everyone else he really isn’t something special. A good fighter not a great one.
