I thought he deserved AT LEAST a draw against Cotto. I don't remember my scoring but I felt like Cotto took more punishment. He had a strange performance against Pac. That fight looked fixed to me (Pac wasn't in on it). He was winning vs Baldomir before the DQ. Lost to a Margarito that might have had loaded gloves and Clottey injured his left in the fight. He was old and shot vs Rosado. Good chin, good jab. Very good fighter.
Define "shot". Because he looked pretty damn good in the opening rounds and looked pretty good in his previous bouts. He definitely was old and Rosado was the bigger man. But it´s not like Clottey was suddenly unable to let his hands go or react to punches.
I heard on a podcast recently that going into the Pac fight he had some stuff going on in camp that caused issues for his prep, or something like that
Clottey was an excellent fighter. His issue was as Emanuel Steward said, he lacked the heart to be the best.
His fight with margarito made me an instant fan. He has a very sharp and educated offense integrated with am excellent defense. I thought he deserved the nod against Cotto, Cotto's body language in the latter rounds were that of a defeated fighter, although it was close and the knockdown helped him.
Clottey was a good fighter. Liked him as a person too. He fought Pacman and started half-assing. I dont blame him. Hes probably laid up with 10 African chicks eating foo foo as we speak. He played the game. Didn't let the game play him. Hes a winner in my book.
I'd say he's an underachiever. 1st time I saw him was against Guiterez. An excellent inside fight from both. Gr8 body punching where U could hear the thud from Clottey's shot. Instant admirer! Gave him a pass in loss to Rito as he claimed hand injury- up to that point I agree he was schooling Rito, but he didn't do like warriors when hurt; fight through the pain man!! On the fence with his next win over Corrales because Diego got caught in no man's land. Too heavy to make weight where his power was at, but couldn't hurt anyone over LW yet he went the distance. Judah really came on strong & had a high connect rate, but wasn't enough, so not sure how to rank Joshua's win over a 2-3-1 Judah per his last 6 fights. His Cotto fight IMO was his best performance since Guiturez even though he lost. And so often with Arum champs- usually defending against someone coming off a loss- Clottey losing to Cotto somehow earned him a shot at Pac. JC was an outstanding body puncher, close quarters was his game. Tight defense yet he lost every step up fight. Held a few minor belts, never defended successfully. Only way he'll make it to the Boxing Hall of Fame is if he does like me and purchase tickets.
