I don't care what anyone says, that was a really good performance by Cotto. I was dead wrong about this fight. Cotto was able to effectively cutoff the ring all night. His footwork looked, good. His balance was a lot better as well as he didn't put so much weigh on that front foot. It's tough coming back from a beating. Cotto went up in weight and fought a good fighter and gave a very good performance. You can no longer say the guy hasn't beaten a reigning champ. Cotto has a lot of options now, it will be interesting to see who he fights next.
reg i know you're very critical of cotto so i'll ask you.... did you see any improvements under steward?
I don't know if it was really an ass kicking. Difference in class was clear though. Foreman won a few rounds and the fight was somewhat competitive, at least until the knee issue started.
I saw some slight improvements. He didn't put as much weight on that front foot, and his footwork looked better. It looks like he's still having some trouble abvoiding right hands though. I liked what I saw last night overall. However, I wouldn't put him in there with an agressive puncher just yet.
After the Margarito beating, his comeback fight was Michael Jennings. After the Pacquiao beating, his comeback fight was Yuri Foreman. No disrespect to Jennings but Foreman is not an easy comeback type fight. You have to give Cotto respect for this win.
Yeah, some people have criticized Cotto's lack of cutting off the ring but I saw the exact opposite last night. He wasn't following foreman, he was stepping from side to side and when Yuri had nowhere to go he'd get desperate and try and reluctantly attack only to be hit with either a jab or a short hook inside.
the jennings fight was cotto's worst performance ever, he followed jennings around and kept overreaching.
I think what makes the performance impressive from my point of view is that Cotto was out-boxing the boxer...conclusively. His jab was on target and landing with regularity and Cotto won the exchanges 8/10. Foreman isn't a great fighter but he is a tall one, and with a problematic style for someone as short as Cotto...but that wasn't even a factor in the end.
What works with Cotto and Steward is that Manny just tells him what he needs round by round. It's: here's the gameplan. Ok, here are some adjustments. Here's something he's doing you can take advantage of. Here's something you're not doing. Even just him telling Cotto to get back to his jab after the fourth - that was why Foreman suddenly had more success, cause Cotto wasn't giving him trouble. They seem a good pair - he's got Cotto just worrying about what he's doing in the fight, rather than analysing his opponent round by round when he just needs to be fighting.
true i remember the fights he has under santiago when he went to the corner all that santiago would tell him is to keep fighting, im glad emmanuel is ther to guide him round by round
