Should The Ring recognize Cotto-Margarito?
Championship vacancies can be filled by winning a box-off between The Ring’s number-one and number-two contenders, or, in certain instances, a box-off between our number-one and number-three contenders.
Currently, the welterweight championship of the world is vacant, with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., off doing his retired thing. Miguel Cotto is ranked No. 1 in the world by The Ring. Antonio Margarito is ranked No. 4.
Rules are rules, and they're there for a reason. It's not easy to earn a legitimate world championship, or at least it shouldn't be.
But do you think The Ring should recognize the winner of the upcoming Cotto-Margarito super fight as the new and true welterweight champion?
Margarito is ranked behind Shane Mosley and Paul Williams. Mosley lost to Cotto last November, but it was a great, close fight, and I agree with those two guys at 1-2. I also can't really argue with Williams ahead of Margarito, because Williams outlasted Margarito in July of 2007, though I left that fight with the impression that a rematch would absolutely go the other way.
Considering the unlikely status of seeing Cotto-Williams any time soon or a Cotto-Mosley rematch, I'm sort of torn on whether or not The Ring should make a big exception in this case.
I think we can all agree that No. 1 is Cotto. But after that, I could see any order of Mosley-Williams-Margarito being totally defensible. In filling title vacancies, The Ring is a slave to its own idea, and it is a fair idea. But every rule has a loophole, or at least a situation that begs for change. In filling a vacant title, perhaps the magazine should accept a fight where the No. 1 ranked boxer in the division fights anyone they rank within their top five. After all, those are certainly legit world title contenders, are they not?
Vacancies would be filled easier, and while they might not be THE BEST fight, they'd be worthwhile matchups, risks on both sides. Real fights. We wouldn't have to sit around hoping that Wladimir Klitschko fights Sam Peter or Ruslan Chagaev, we could crown a champion if Wlad decided to go after that fight with mandatory contender Alexander Povetkin (ranked fifth).
This system wouldn't be perfect, either, of course, but there are rare occasions like this one where you have what is a perfectly acceptable world championship-caliber fight. It doesn't happen often enough (No. 1 fighting Nos. 2-5) to make a major difference, anyway. It's not a complete changing of the rules, just a tweaking that will promote both the lineal titles -- which should be emphasized by everyone -- and good fights.
What say you? Should The Ring recognize Cotto-Margarito as a world championship fight?
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The sweat of defeat...
Honestly, I have mixed feeling about it. Cotto, hands down, obviously deserves the crown. He has nothing to prove after Margarito. Even with Mayweather coming along later, a win over him will prove nothing anymore. Margarito, also deserves it if he wins. Then again, I am not sure if he does. You know Cotto is in the mouth of every one now. So it seems more like a lot of these boxer will be doing a manhunt and stop at nothing for that crown. However, with Margarito is what? Maybe they’ll have a decision where if Cotto is the winner he gets the throne. But if Margarito is the winner, he’ll get the digit increase to 37. But that doesn’t exactly sound fair at all.
I don’t know man, it’s hard to even attemp to write a comment on it because what kind of message is this going to send to other boxers. An exception was made for Margarito, how come we can’t get that; stuff like that. The boxers are going to want answers. If it wans’t for the lost to Williams I would agree with the Ring, but that lost was big.
Even with Williams I wouldn’t consider it. But that’s how it has to be. I am more leaning on the fact that Cotto-Margarito should be recognized at say 65% than it shouldn’t. But we have three more weeks to go it can all change.
Cotto by TKO in the 10th.
Say goodnight to the bad guy.
by CRAZEDANG1280 on
Jul 6, 2008 6:50 PM EDT
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Meh
I won’t paint myself to be anything approaching the kind of boxing fan you are, SC, so maybe I don’t really understand the significance of The Ring. From what I gather though, the only reason that list of “titleholders” is taken seriously is because the alphabet belts cannot be. The Ring is necessary for those looking for any sense of closure.
That being the case, I believe that whatever The Ring decides, it’s still going to be more legit either way. If they want this fight to determine the title, so be it. It’s the best option we have at this point.
I said this to my friends one day and I’ll reiterate it here that one of the reasons I fell for boxing so bad this time around (the first time was during the great heavyweight days) was because of the discussions that take place between fights and determining which scores that fight will settle. It’s a lot like the BCS in college football. There’s always going to be somebody that has a problem with some aspect of it (and more often than not, rightly so) but it’s not about figuring it all out. The most entertaining part of it is simply trying to.
by antbogey on
Jul 7, 2008 7:59 AM EDT
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The Ring’s titles are significant because they’re the REAL titles, passed on down the line—or, well, as close as you can get to it through all the vacancies that have occured and still do occur.
Now do I believe in everything to the letter? Certainly not. Joel Casamayor is not the best 135-pound fighter in the world. He also shouldn’t even hold that title. It rightly belongs to Jose Armando Santa Cruz, which is just as bad. At best you can mark Casamayor as #3 in the division. Santa Cruz ekes into the top ten. But Casamayor won that title, and as wrong as it is, he retained it against Santa Cruz. Casa’s the champ. Which is stupid enough, but it beats some of the guys that go around claiming to be The World Champion. Isaac Hlatswayo holds a belt at 147. So does the still-untested Andre Berto.
So yeah, it’s partly that the alphabet bodies are so frequently a disgrace. At least I can say Joel Casamayor wasn’t stripped of this title the way he was the WBC’s, which was one of the most perplexing decisions in recent years. But it’s also because The Ring’s belts hold history. The rest are a confounded disaster. Piecing together those lineages is a task and a half. Interim titles, strippings, vacancies, belts returned. Lord.
"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum
by SC on
Jul 7, 2008 9:00 AM EDT
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The short and sweet
Not just yet.
If Cotto wins over Margarito, I think he has to defeat Williams down the road as well, just to settle any lingering questions. if TJT wins, he has to beat Mosley, on top of Williams. That’s if they really want to settle any question about who the king of the division is.
by Ready2Rumble on
Jul 8, 2008 11:40 AM EDT
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Should The Ring recognize Cotto-Margarito?
I believe that Cotto and Margaritto should be recognized and for many reasons. IF Margaritto defeats Cotto we are going to be guaranted great defenses on Margarittos behalf including rematches to Cotto,Williams and possibly a match up with Mosley.
I have followed Margarito’s fights for some time and he is a very diverse fighter with many tools and if anyone has a chance to beat Cotto it will be him. He has been dodged by several fighters and I believe he deserves this opportunity and ” if ” he can beat Cotto he most deffenitly deserves a crown.
On the other hand I am a hugh Cotto fan, having been Puerto Rican all my life, recently lived in the beauitful island of Puerto Rico for 2 great years, and even worked at the bank whom sponsers him-First Bank I even met him once at the banks convention. He too is a greatly skilled fighters and is a very respectful opponent for Margarito. Cotto has never dodged an opponent and I believe he doesnt fight for fame or money. He just wants to beat the best to be recognized as the best. He is a very humble person in person.That alone spells leader to me especially in a sport like boxing where there is no mandatory schedule. Boxers usually stratigize who they want to fight and its all business. Cotto and Margaritto both fight and take big fights to take them not simply because it mightr be a good career move. These 2 guys love a challenge. If Maywether were to step back in the picture in the future it will make a explosive event fighting either one of these fighters. Oh and heres a little secrect Maywether left just in time to keep a zero in his lost bracket becuase he knew that " Greatest in the world," title he gave to himself was going to be not taken but beat away from him.
by JOVENISMAEL on
Jul 15, 2008 11:20 PM EDT
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by VegasFightParty on
Jul 22, 2008 2:13 PM EDT
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