Clottey vs Cotto: Is Clottey really that good or did the cut badly affect Cotto?

Clottey is a good fighter who simply froze on the big stage when he faced Pacquiao, but I can't see how anyone could argue that the cut didn't affect Cotto in their fight, it was ****ing horrendous. Cotto get's massive credit from me for winning that fight, I had him winning 114-113 with the knockdown making the difference, and I'm confident that if he hadn't been cut he'd have won a clearer decision.

 

yeah man such a shame. every fighter has off nights but clottey's has been shot, hunged and accused of heresy since that fight. he was a top fighter and I hope for his come back fight he looks good and some doors open up

 

I felt Clottey got robbed in that fight - not by the judges, but by the referee. I thought Cotto got away with numerous fouls and should've been deducted on at least 2 occasions.

Here's the problem for Clottey: he's moving up in weight, and he has a style that's totally reliant on him being far stronger than his opponent. The guy was a giant at WW and because of that he could keep his guard up and nobody could get any punches through because Clottey was just so much bigger and stronger.

As he moves up, his size and strength advantages decrease. He may still be the strongest guy even at 154, but the better punchers should be able to pierce his guard.

Ricky Hatton had a similar problem when he went to 147 because he also relied on his size and strength to win fights, albeit in almost entirely opposite fashion. When he fought at 147 his opponents were closer to his weight and he couldn't throw them around the ring at will.

 

clottey was big as hell and had a size advantage. he also cut cotto and nailed him with some devestating shots. cotto fought like a warrior, but he lost that fight. he never hurt clottey and only won rounds that clottey took off. clottey's good but not that good. he is better than the guy who fought pacquiao. i'm sure some people actually think he was trying not to get knocked out. pacquiao is great, but that was bribery at it's finest.

 

I remember scoring it for Cotto by 1 point but felt that Clottey was the better fighter between the 2, ie Clottey beats Cotto 3/5 based on that performance alone.

I think he's a solid B level fighter, possibly B+ with the likes of Cotto an A- for me.

He also gave Margaito a very tough fight, and IMO outside of Pac, he is probably the best WW out there right now. Id pick him to beat Berto or any of the other JWW's.

 

Clottey's that good, everyone knows he's that good, and everyone acknowledged it until Pac beat him, at which point he immediately changed from a top 3 welterweight to a nothing, C- fighter.

 

Dude fought with one eye and won

 

Cotto was cut but if I remember correctly, Clottey also lost his footwork when he injured his knee.

 

Clottey is good enough to smack andre berto around and TKO him just like Zab Judah. Unless you throw a thousand power punches nonstop, you are not gonna get an easy night with Clottey. those who are shitting on him now had clearly seen nothing of him before he fought Pac. They thought Arum just picked up a tomato can and put him in Dallas in front of Pacquiao. Clottey was one of the best welterweights around and he is definitely better than Berto

 

Clottey is a good fighter. A grade B fighter, IMO.

 

A few points:

- Clottey would always give Cotto problems in a fight.

- Clottey is a very good fighter, but lacks that something to label him top notch. His record speaks for itself as proof, for one reason or another, he fails to make it every time he's on the big stage. Only time he did it was vs Judah, but we all know about Zab's lack of consistency and mentality problems.

- The cut changed the fight significantly. Imo, the fight became a 'pick em' fight because of the cut, if the cut hadn't occured it would be a close but clear victory for Cotto. In the sense that he would have snatched a couple more rounds with less backpedalling. Clottey looked a little bit better than he would have looked if the cut hadn't occured.

PS: Who the eff is Calvin Green?

 

Anyone trying to fix a fight doesnt want the fixed fight be too obvious... or arum is dumb to realize that?

And maybe Pacquiao doesnt have a chance of beating Clottey so Arum has to fix it.

 

I think the cut affected the fight.

But I also think fans give Cotto a free pass for excuses because he is such a likeable fighter. Other fighters who would be affected by a simialr cut wouldn't get the same freebie.

Same thing for Cotto being ruined by Margo. It's laughable. He was tired and forced into retreat mode against a 37 year old Mosley, and he was put on ***** street early by both Torres and Judah. I'm not surprised that Clottey was able to make Cotto retreat, and I'm not surprised Pac was able to deck him early. A past prime Mosley and prime Clottey are on a similar level, while there's a major difference in class between Torres/Judah and Pac.

 

Clottey's solid. But the better fighters should now know how to handle him.