fyi: the reason I think the stoppage was poor is because we've seen time and time again fighters regain their composure in the eyes of adversity --- according to this stoppage - cotto should've been stopped *twice* against torres when they fought - as he was hurt in the same manner (learning forward...grabbing, ducking etc...) --- holt should've *at least* been given the chance to fight through it --- as that's part of boxing.
No, Holt never went down before the 11th. Torres only went down once near the end of the 6th. Torres did slip in the wet corner while trying to finish Holt but got right back up to trap Holt in another corner.
Holt was getting clobbered by a series of flush punches when he was trapped in the corner. It all depends on when a fight should be stopped and I don't think there are any hard and fast rules so there will always be controversy. Torres had more than sufficient time to finish holt even in the 11th or if not then than in the 12th. Let's just say that it was a lot better than the calzaghe/manfredo stoppage where punches were not even being landed. Also keep in mind that other than Cotto, Torres has never failed to stop a hurt opponent. And we all know that Cotto is twice as tough as the weak chinned Holt both physically and mentally I might add.
a rematch is not a bad idea, but don't forget that torres is the champion, so holt should be the one making concessions as to where the fight is fought.
Tom_Tocca: you saw the fight and then said that a can did not hot Holt? I saw a clip and seen a can hit Holt right on the ****ing head. what fight were u watching? or are you just biased for ricardo torres and made that up?
Let's just say that it was a lot better than the calzaghe/manfredo stoppage where punches were not even being landed. Also keep in mind that other than Cotto, Torres has never failed to stop a hurt opponent. And we all know that Cotto is twice as tough as the weak chinned Holt both physically and mentally I might add.[/quote] I agree - the Calzaghe/manfredo stoppage was embarassing to the sport of boxing --- which is why i'm rooting for Kessler to knock Calzaghe silly as he won't be able to flash rabbit punches against Kessler. But I just think Holt deserved to fight through that round given the fact that he was not only in the fight - but arguably winning the fight at that point.
There's a certain element of danger to that line of thinking though. Let's say all refs are not allowed to stop fights when there's 30secs left in the round. What happens if that fatal punch lands because a ref is looking at the clock instead of the fighter because there was only say 15secs left? Chances are Torres would have landed another heavy barrage because there was still like 25secs left when the ref stopped it. It's Holt's fault for not going after Torres after knocking him down hard. You can bet that Torres will not let Holt off the hook in the 12th even if Holt managed to survive the remainder of the 11th.