Heres why Cotto lost

Firstly, Margarito just gained a hell of a lot of respect from me. Unquestionable chin and heart. However this was a frustrating fight to watch to me, looking at this from Cotto's view.


The outcome of this fight was due to what Cotto didn't do rather, then what Margarito did do. The strategy that Cotto's camp implemented, was responsible for his loss. Backing up, sticking, moving, trying to outbox this brawler, can work and has worked successfully in many fights (Cotto was trying to be De la Hoya in Trinidad v Oscar).


But there is a problem with it applied to this fight: Cotto is by far the smaller man!

How can the smaller man successfully win by staying on the outside, back on the ropes? By doing this Cotto let himself in Margaritos punching range, before his own punches could reach Margarito. Meaning that he was conciously conceding aggression and initiative to Cotto in each exchange.

He fought a backwards fight.

His timing and precision were impressive, in between Margarito's volume punching he mixed it up and threw excellent combos. But he could not sustain this while backing up constantly.

It can certainly argued that Cotto is stronger then Margarito. The few times he came forward to meet Margarito, he was getting the better of the powershot exchanges. But these instances were few and far between. And immediately after Cotto took one or two steps forward, he would retreat eight or nine steps. Extremely frustrating to watch.

To hammer it home again: Cotto's strategy lost him the fight. He was to focused on his agenda of how to fight this man Margarito, that he was unable to adjust to the reality of what was going on. He needed to come forward much more and Mix it up. Cotto has the better technique and power and by virtue of these qualities, should have won the fight.

 

Don't mistake the ability to take a punch, with punching power. Cottos power shots were visibly more powerful then Margaritos. On the other issue, obviously Margarito has a monster chin and Cotto does not.

 

Ok.. for those responding that Cotto fought a great fight or could not do anymore: When you watch the fight again, count on your hands how many times Cotto actually comes forward. It is less then 10. Thats less then once a round.

But those times he did come forward, he got the best exchanges and stopped Margarito in his tracks.

Then he retreats about 8 steps.

Now Im not saying he something unrealistic like completely change styles. But he abolutely NEEDEd to mix it up, by sticking and moving as he was, 60-65% of each round, instead of 96% of each round. The other 30-40%, he needed to stand his ground, or come forward, to maximize his power shots, and his accuracy and precision. Even if he can't knock cotto out, the judges will give you favoritism for demonstrable aggression! Especially if it looked like he could be aggressive at will, which I will be honest, I think he can. Margarito is a true warrior, but he doesnt know come close to Cottos skill level.

It's called controlling the tempo, something I know that each of you posters know about. Everyone knows that the fighter that can control the tempo usually can win the fight.

Margarito probably cannot be knocked out by Cotto, but the point is that he Cotto lost the fight before he got in the ring because of what his strategy determned that he do.

SO what we should learn from this is the importance of making adjustments. Just because a fighter has superior skills, if he cannot being make adjustments to his strategy during the fight losses, such as this one, are a foregone conclusion.


*EDIT************

*IF he had stood toe to toe* We'll never know, will we. Because Cotto never gave you the opportunity to see it. Margarito was so open, when Cotto landed as he was coming forward, Margarito had to cover up.. so toe to toe? more like Cotto punching and Margarito coming up, then stick, move, come forward shots, stick move etc. You guys think I'm being unrealistic, Cotto knows that hes going to have to take some punches.... better that HE determines when he risks his chin rather then let Margarito have the choice.