We all know the controversy in the fight, so was Cotto really ever the same? I thought he lost his fight with Joshua Clottey and he never went on to beat a top prime fighter.
The Margarito loss sparked extended instability in Cotto's camp. He finally sack his uncle Evangelista, who was a disfunctional figure. He then kicked off a habit of changing trainers several times. Although all of the trainers were excellent, I don't think many people in boxing would advise swapping your trainer every two years. I think losing to Margarito, especially outright submitting to Margarito the way he did affected Cotto's confidence and he never really regained his swagger as a killing machine. I think this was further compounded by the life and death struggles with Clottey and then with Pacquiao. Those fights with Margarito, Clottey, and Pacquiao all saw Cotto put through the ringer in an unholy way. Sure, he was able to fight on cruise-control against Michael Jennings, but how many guys have taken as much damage and endured as much anguish as Cotto did in the span of 4 fights? Cotto still had good years ahead of him with titles in 2 more divisions, but its pretty obvious that after the loss to Margarito, we were no longer seeing the version of Cotto who fearlessly cleaned out divisions like a vampire hunter.
I think he got better after. Sometimes guys can get better even thought maybe they are on the way down.. Hearns got better defense after Barkley beat him even though he was on the way down.
Yes it did. Cotto was a cold ruthless killer yet vulnerable, who would work his opponent down into submission or knock him out. Hbo/Top Rank were at their best promoting him. Every fight was a war on prime time tv. Margo/Cotto was a legit a legendary event. Cotto fought his best fight ever against Margo. He looked great. Till Margo's bricks solidified and Cotto's face started to blow up. Cotto had one easy fight then came right back and fought Clottey who was a bad mofo at the time. Had a hard fight. His cuts were reopened, etc. Then he fought P4P#1 at the time Pacman. He did good at first but got stopped. Had Margo not been a cheat Cotto would have won. He would've have also beaten Clottey in a better fashion and probably wouldn't have been stopped by Pacman.
Sweet Pea, Cotto in no way got BETTER after the first Margarito fight. He was never quite the same again. He took a beating... whether the beating was legal or not, we can forever debate, but he took a beating. I think the best version of Cotto was the one who destroyed Carlos Quintana. A lot of people dont remember this, but that was considered a 50-50 fight going in.
