I think he'll be held even higher if he can rematch and win. But, in general, I do agree with you. Although, depending on what Margo accomplished otherwise, there may have always been the criticism of "well, he never fought Margarito".
Why would he lose peoples respect. He fought the most avoided WW of his era. And he did not get beat in a bad way. He fought very bravely and he should actually get respect from us. Its Margarito he lost too! A big hard hitting WW and Cotto took every shot he gave him. I think this fight should get rid of all those "chin" problems Cotto had..
With the performance he put on saturday night's fight he gets MAD PROPS from me Rummy. And had he not faced Margarito and when on the become an ATG, that **** would had come to haunt him for the rest of his life a la Oscar's retmach with Tito or PBF not wanting to fight Margarito because he wanted to fight the "linear champ" lol..... Because it kind of works both ways you are damn if you do and damn if you dont....So Im satisfied knowing that he gave all he had in him on the ring but came up short against a fighter like Margarito whom many people are afraid of facing. You hear Clottley talking all that **** now about wanting to face Margarito after he KOs Judah but at fight time is another story man.
If he hadn't fought Margarito many people would still consider that Cotto would have beaten him anyways, as was done with Mayweather. People believe for a reasonable amount of speculation that you can just write a fight off without seeing the what ifs. Margarito would just be that guy who lost to Wiliams and Santos. And Cotto would be that guy who beat Judah/Mosley and Quintana. That's just how perception in this sport works and how easily a promoter/fighter can abuse it.