Who Has In The Ring Boxing Experience? I Need YOUR Opinion!!

He couldve clinched ...

 

I'm of the opinion that Cotto just got a little too comfortable, and a little too confident. Following the first six rounds when he was circling quickly around Margarito and dodging the vast majority of his punches with relative ease (Margarito was only landing about 20% of his shots), he started to carry his hands a little lower and rely almost solely on upper body movement to try and evade Margarito's shots. When a man can throw in excess of 130 punches a round without any serious measure of fatigue, some of those are going to get through. In this case, it was the uppercuts while Cotto was back against the ropes. Sure, Cotto put the ear-muffs on, but Margo managed to split his guard and catch him right up the middle. Bert Sugar even predicted before the fight that Cotto may be susceptible to the uppercuts, and they would make the difference for Margarito if he threw them. So from someone with a little bit of ring experience, I think if Cotto would have stayed on his toes and kept circling away from Margarito off the ropes, using his blazing handspeed to counter effectively, keep up that hurtful jab that Margarito seemed more than happy to walk into, and if he threw the left hook when he circled around to his left instead of standing straight up, turning half away from Margarito and dropping his hands (since Margo would relax his guard too, at that point, leaving himself relatively open for that quick left hook Cotto throws), Cotto very well could have eased into a UD victory.

 

A big guy who knows how to fight is a very hard challenge for a smaller man. Looking at that fight I am a believer that Cotto did everything he could possibly do to win and just came up short.

I wouldn't say I'm a boxing expert, but I have been involved with it since I was a little boy. I do know a bit about what I see, some 24 years of watching guys punch each other.

 

If he moved less he would have been taking more punches. I don't think it was the legwork he had to put in, but the sheer accuracy of some of those punches Margarito landed. Even though he missed alot some were right on the button. I think that stuck with Cotto and forced him to stay on the move. Margarito really busted him up in there. And most of the damage happened early, like his nose and his mouth. The lacerations at the end were from the final flurry but overall he had carried some damage throughout.

 

Fighting a guy like Margarito is hard because not only is he rangy enough to nail you on the outside, but he's a great infighter too. This was Margarito's night, and as versitile as Cotto is, what can you do against a relentless, tireless, hard punching ,granite jawed, motivated slugger who can nail you on the inside and out?
Mayweather is probably a bit more durable than Cotto, and his reflexes would prevent him from getting hit as much as Cotto, but I'm not sure even Floyd could have beaten the Tony of July 26th. Thats probably why Floyd didn't want to fight Margarito. Careful matchmaking is almost as important as talent if you want to retire undefeated.

 

No, not at all. Inside fighting is Margo's bread and butter. The HBO commentary crew might have been wrong on a lot of things on Saturday night, but one thing they did have right was that regardless of Margo's rangy, lanky build (which is indicative of an outside fighter) he's a machine once he's in your face. He can throw short punches in bunches, and isn't concerned about trading shots to land his own (which we saw a number of times with Cotto drilling him with hard, clean shots). When Cotto started spending too much time on the ropes attempting to duck and weave rather than circling and using his footwork, he put himself squarely in Margo's domain, and eventually he got tagged.

 

Uppercuts man, uppercuts.

You can fight in the pocket with a big man if he just sucks at fighting smaller men, on the inside. But the problem with Margarito is even if you do get inside you can't reliably hit his body because he protects it well. And he'll give you that chin because he can take it.

I think Cotto would have tried to move inside if he didn't take so many big shots early on. The most telling blow early was Margarito's left hook to the body. It caught Cotto moving in and well, that pretty much sealed the deal. Then some right hands later and Cotto was in full retreat, just looking to score and move.

Cotto's backup was obviously to let Margarito fall in and to get a couple shots off and move. It worked for a little while but when a guy as big as Margarito just throws inbetween your shots it's impossible to make him miss all night. And even landing at a 20% clip he hurt Cotto bad. So, it is what it is. The great little man lost to the great big man.

 

I boxed from the age of 4 until I was 18. My family was connected within boxing circles and so I was naturally introduced to the sport. The only 'real' competitive years in boxing, were from when I was 12 until 17. Interclub and inter school competitions. Most of what I read within this forum, demonstrates the complete lack of insight regarding actually climbing into a ring and what really goes on within it.

The intrinsic basics are taught from day one. The stance...the shoulder, chin positioning...the feet...balance, etc. As time goes on and the student becomes more adept, combination punching is taught. Combinations are not merely combinations per se...there is method to all of the combinations. Combos should be reeled off reflexively as counters, or as attack.

I could go on, but I believe that the general point has been made in this regard.

On that particular night, Cotto found out that he was out of his depth...just as the others had found out against him. Margo was just too good for him regarding their particular styles. In addition, Margo is naturally, a bigger and stronger guy at 147. Cotto was unable to adjust accordingly and the result was as everyone saw it to be.
A loss for an unbeaten fighter, becomes a future mental fight with himself. Many fall by the wayside...many gain from the loss.

The result should be seen by everyone as being superior skill and training, triumphing over a lesser skilled fighter. To diss the guy, is really being childish and diminishes the obvious courage of the man. It's very easy to call the shots from the sidelines.

It takes guts to climb into a ring!

Just 2 cents worth of opinion from a guy who has had over 40 competitive bouts.

 

I had 14 amateur fights and I'm hoping to get back into it after a couple of years off.