He gave Cotto a good fight while it lasted, looked good when he boxed. How come he had such a short career?
He also pretty much shut out Emmanuel Augustus. All the rounds were close but Pinto's edge in power meant that he won basically every round. I remember that fight very distinctly. I think Pinto was discouraged after the Cotto fight. I don't blame him. People forget just how deep the 140 pound class was for a two year period with Floyd, Tszyu, Hatton, Judah, Vivian Harris, Gatti, Kendall Holt, Bojado, Sharmba Mitchell, Lovemore N'Dou, Chop Chop Corley, Sucra Oliveira, Randall Baily, Urango, Maussa, Arnaoutis, Torres, Spadafora, Leija, Ben Tackie, Lazcano, Abdoullaev, Leonard Dorin, all milling around. I'm sure Pinto looked at that crowd and realized that if he got dominated and violently stopped by a greenhorn like Cotto, whom he'd beaten in the ams, then there was no way he was getting through that pack. As I recall Pinto scored one lackadaisical win and then he got dropped and beaten up by Vince Phillips. But yeah, the 140 pound crop back then was ungodly, especially with Jose Luis Castillo occasionally bouncing up forthe occasional cameo in nontitle fights.
He got beat up, but I've seen far worse beatings. E.g Cotto Margo and Pacquiao and Cotto came back from both.
I didn't know that. Before he lost to Cotto, he was undefeated and had a high knock-out %. Surprised he was built up as just an 'opponent' for Cotto.
I heard a rumor that Pinto had medical issues that led to his retirement. Not sure how true that is, though. I know for a while he was working with Brazilian fighters (Boxing & MMA) helping them with their training. It was more to it than that. He was a decorated amateur (who had beaten Cotto twice) and a top prospect before facing Cotto. At one point, he was scheduled to fight Ricky Hatton, but I think that fight fell apart when Pinto got injured and I believe Hatton fought Dennis Pederson instead.
Well the conclusion to be drawn is that Pac, Cotto and even Margo are cut from a different cloth than normal men. :good Kelson simply isn't, at least to that same extent that it takes to be a top guy in the sport.
Wow yeah your right, I went on Hatton's Boxrec and saw that Pederson stepped in as a late replacement for Pinto. He was scheduled to fight Hatton before the Cotto fight. That would have been interesting. Thanks for the info.
