Cotto woulda smashed a prime Martinez

Nah

 

Junito is lucky to see the distance versus prime Maravilla.

 

Rubbish

Prime Martinez toys with him.

 

Cotto woulda never faced a prime Martinez

 

Cotto was a great fighter and a worthy
HOFer to be sure.

Nevertheless, Martinez at his admittedly brief apex batters and maybe stops the pride of Puerto Rico.

 

Late blooming, wouldn't say brief. Martínez from 2008 until late 2011 / early 2012 (Shark Attack through Barker/Macklin) is a h2h beast. That isn't exactly a flash in the pan as primes go.

 

Cotto has had trouble with Southpaws his whole career, Judah, Corley, Trout, Pacquaio. A prime Martinez was really something, I think it would be competive but I see Martinez pulling away late and winning a decision.

 

I'll be the dissenting voice here and agree somewhat with the sentiment.

A healthier Martinez still a slow starter and is still facing someone who is a superior technian, and who has better timing. Plus, he's still at risk of taking Cotto lightly.

So, I think that first hook that Cotto landed on Martinez by stepping inside the lead foot still could-and would-land against an overconfident Maravilla, and still has the potential to do serious damage. It may not have as dramatic an impact; but it's doing enough damage to get Cotto into the fight and allow him to do further work.

By the time Martinez recovers, Cotto probably banks enough rounds to secure the close decision even against a better version of Maravilla.

 

I never said it was a flash in the pan; I referred to it as brief.

Martinez was at his best between 2009-2011 (thought he was showing signs of slippage in the Macklin fight). That two year (or so) window certainly fits my definition of brief.

 

I don't even think Cotto would have beaten Martinez at that stage of Sergio's career had his knee not been injured.
Prime Martinez KOs Cotto

 

Your crazy I'm a Cotton fan but in his prime Martinez would have carved him up and stopped him.

 

Oof, this is such a bad take. Sergio before he was on one leg was amazing.
I don't think i've ever seen a top fighter so obviously operating on one leg as Sergio.

 

Does anyone remember how Cotto crumbled when he was asked about a potential fight vs GGG during his “reign” at MW? No way would he have fought a prime Maravilla at middleweight.

 

Cotto gets a bad rep " weak champion" or "not good enough to bang with the greats", what about looking at his positives? He would have demolished Margarito in the 2nd fight had the fight been not stopped. He was in excellent condition and would have left permanent damage in the eye of Tony. People were saying Marg was coming on strong but it was the opposite, Cotto bludgeoned his eye to the point of no peripheral vision, and his conditioning from running all those backward miles he ran in training would serve him as the fight went the distance. He was holding his own, could fight backwards, and was in supreme condition.

People laugh and call him a weak champion, he gave Floyd all he could handle. Even in the PAC fight with his terrible technique due to training himself and running his whole ship, he still did good!

And versus Martinez: any version of Martinez would be weaker than Cotto, facts. I started a poll in saying Cotto had a resemblance to a fistic fury like a wild Roberto Duran, but not in comparison, more like a poor man's version. But yeah Manos de piedre was an atg, Cotto was a contemporary great : best of his time. No matter when where and how Cotto would always injure Martinez with his power he carried up from the lower weight classes

People like to say Cotto had no right hand. Check the Ricardo Torres fight, big straight right hands.

"Cotto had less mental endurance than pbfm" yet Cotto took him the distance. Nuff said. He was bashed by cinder blocks and still ressurected his career. If it sounds like I'm rooting for the in-house fighter than so be it, Cotto went to war like no other!

 

Cotto vs Martinez prime for prime would have been interesting. A pickem styles make fights type of match.