Cotto-Clottey looks set for June 13
by Scott Christ on Mar 6, 2009 5:06 PM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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From Dan Rafael's Notebook:
Although no deal is signed, Miguel Cotto's June 13 fight at Madison Square Garden on the eve of New York's annual Puerto Rican Day parade probably will be a welterweight unification bout with New York's Joshua Clottey, Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, told ESPN.com. "It'll be Clottey," he said. "It's the logical fight to do. Clottey wants the fight very badly and Miguel says fine. We still have come to terms with both fighters, but we'll get it done."
Arum says HBO passed on Cotto-Cintron (good call, HBO) and that Andre Berto also fell out of the running. With no other suitable options and Miguel Cotto not willing to go fight a suspended boxer in Mexico City, that kind of left Clottey. I don't buy that anyone suddenly took a great interest in promoting Clottey properly, even though he deserves it.
By the time this fight rolls around, Clottey will have been off for 10 months, while Cotto will have had a tune-up fight four months prior. It all favors Cotto. I also think it's a good matchup but that you cannot deny Cotto has to be the heavy favorite.
If Clottey were to beat Cotto, it would really screw up a lot of plans that seem to be at least somewhat in motion, particularly Pacquiao-Cotto later in 2009. This lone fight is unlikely to make Clottey a star, but he deserves the shot and I'm glad HBO is willing to work out a deal for this and not go with the pandering Cotto-Cintron matchup, which is predictable as all get-out on paper. Clottey has a real shot, and it should be a good fight.
Rafael also notes that Andre Berto will be back on a May 30 edition of Boxing After Dark.
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clottey??? he should have fought mosley wtf….i guess he wants to face clottey cuz he dont wanna get his ass beat so he can fight pacquiao or hatton if he gets the chance. i think clottey stands a good chance against cotto though, he seems like he would give him problems because of that turtle shell defense he uses…this is lame i hope he wins, i wanna see cotto mosley 2 bad but it probably wont happen for a couple fights. i also get the feeling hes scared of fighting margarito again, he seems too outraged about arum trying to let him fight after the suspension. if he was confident he would bring margarito to puerto rico and whoop his ass. he has to avenge that loss…
by asthepalacesburn on Mar 6, 2009 6:09 PM EST reply actions
Mosley
Shane won’t fight him in NYC or in June, so they didn’t really have that option.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
he said he doesnt wanna fight in june? i didnt know that. i wanna see cotto fight mosley in la
by asthepalacesburn on Mar 7, 2009 10:24 AM EST up reply actions
It’s not Cotto’s fault that Margarito has disqualified himself for consideration as a professional athlete. As for Clottey, he’s as legit as it gets, and if anything, Cotto deserves props for giving him his shot when no one else would.
There’s plenty of time for the Mosley rematch.
cottos one of my favorite fighters dont get me wrong, and he has accepted challenges from a couple of the most avoided fighters in the sport which takes guts. and i dont discredit clottely i know hes a great fighter, i guess i dont have any realy reaons to be dissapointed. i guess i just dont really dig really defensive styles. i saw him against judah…he was good, you can tell the guy has power and speed and a tight defense but i actually thought he was being kind of boring against judah for a while by following judah and just pushing his guard on him and just not engaing like judah was. zab cant just stand there and do nothing until clottey finally throws a punch. zab wanted to press the fight and give us a show
by asthepalacesburn on Mar 7, 2009 10:31 AM EST up reply actions
Clottey isn't exciting
He’s a well-rounded, tough guy with good defense. Even if promoted properly it’s unlikely he’s ever a star.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 7, 2009 11:58 AM EST up reply actions
I agree with you. I just wish Arum would have promoted him properly.
by BabyBull1289 on Mar 7, 2009 12:43 PM EST up reply actions
I glad
This shit happened… otherwise they would have all found themselves in another Jennings failure with Cintron.
I don’t buy that anyone suddenly took a great interest in promoting Clottey properly, even though he deserves it.
I think Arum first pitched the idea of Cotto-Cintron since he figured they [HBO] were somewhat okay with the Cintron-Martinez fight and HBO just said no. Then and only then HBO probably said we are more interested in Clottey-Cotto. Knowing Arum I’m sure he jumped on top of that one like a whore offering here services for free.
"Count on us! We sponsored Margarito for several years." - CEMEX [Mexico's largest cement company.]
Finally Clottey is getting some of the recognition he deserves,
Even if he only gets the fight by default, he’s a legitimate contender in a stacked division. I’m not quite sure how I want this one to go, although the thought of a Cotto-Margarito rematch somewhere down the line is appealing. Say what you want about the cheating, Margarito still walked through everything Cotto threw at him. I’ve never been too high on Cintron and wouldn’t be missing much if I never saw him fight again.
Good fight on ESPN
Delvin Rodriguez-Shamone Alvarez just finished. I have Rodriguez winning by a few points. Let’s see what they say. Alvarez had only lost once and to Joshua Clottey no less.
Was a sloppy fight on both sides though
And neither guy should end up more than a fringe titlist unless they fix some major flaws. Rodriguez has more potential, but his chin is shaky and his holes are huge.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
great news. i enjoyed the fight with judah, and he looked like his punches are hard enough to rock cotto if they land clean. once the official picks thread gets up i might even predict clottey to win
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 6, 2009 11:58 PM EST reply actions
Finally, a great welterweight fight. Clottey is very under rated, as I just watched some of the clotty vs. marg fight. If clottey hadn’t broken his left hand, he would have won the fight easily. He was totally giving it to marg, and he survived a most likely “loaded” marg. Albertrayon, Luis Resto walked thru Collin’s punches, even tho Collins was technically the stronger puncher. You know why? B/c he had that mentality that whatever he landed would be 10 x more destructive than what collins threw. without that, he’s less invincible and less likely to throw, sort of like what most likely happened in the mosley fight (if he used it in prize fights, and all training sessions, Not having it would feel strange and would throw him off).
Also, everyone is saying Clottey MIGHT have a chance. I actually think he might have the edge. He has a better chin than cotto, he can take cotto’s best punches and keep walking him down. However, Cotto has been found to have a questionalbe chin. Cotto is one my favorite fighters, but I Clotty will be able to decision Cotto or get him in a late round stoppage. Cotto’s chin is a liability.
He has a better chin than cotto
Maybe.
However, Cotto has been found to have a questionalbe chin.
When he was killing himself to cut down to 140 pounds, or when he fought Margarito? In either instance color me skeptical.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
cotto was rocked by judah at 147. i’d say that qualifies as questionable
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 7, 2009 12:43 PM EST up reply actions
guys get rocked all the time
Are we qualifying “good chin” as “Bernard Hopkins” now?
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
judah, and mosley round 10 (granted he was eating over hand rights all night), but neither are known as “power " punchers. he got his chin tested in almost all of his welterweight fights: judah, mosley, and margarito. Only quintana didn’t seem to hurt him so bad, but perhaps he hung in there b/c he knew he had the better firepower. Tho pple say things about clottey, in the marg fight, he showed some amazing offense, like triple hooking his left, who does that? it was amazing! I feel Cotto can only beat opponents if he knows he can outgun them. His stamina is what Paul Williams calls a "10 round fighter”, his defense is pretty good, but when he gets hit he can either trade out of it or retreat, and he probably won’t hurt clottey b/c clottey has defense + great chin and he has heart. Of course, Cotto can outclass berto any day of the year. That wold just be an easy fight. Berto didn’t really impress me at the collazo fight. I feel collazo won the fight. Without his athleticism what does berto got?
ooo… an idea… how about collazo vs. judah, or collazo vs. cintron? Give collazo a chance to redeem himself, give cintron a chance to show he’s still game in the welterweight division. it would make a spectacular undercard! Pc!
I’m not sure Cintron was ever actually game in the welterweight division. He’s seriously never beaten anyone. Cintron and Judah should fight each other in someone’s basement.
And Mosley has an 87% KO percentage. I think it’s about time we start considering Mosley a pretty big hitter.
I feel Cotto can only beat opponents if he knows he can outgun them. His stamina is what Paul Williams calls a "10 round fighter"
He went 12 grueling rounds with Shane Mosley, 11 hard with Judah, 11 with Urkal and showed no stamina issues. The guy lost one fight that deserves skepticism now and all of a sudden he’s got a bad chin and no stamina. It’s ludicrous.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
its not “all of a sudden” his chin has always been a question either at 140 or 147. when i said he was rocked by judah, i meant damn near a KO-rocked. only reason why he didn’t get his ass KO’d then was because of his cheap ass low blows.
also about mosley, also add to the fact that one of those KOs came against the “indestructible” chin of Margarito. pretty hard to ignore that punching power
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 7, 2009 8:55 PM EST up reply actions
I forgive Cotto’s chin at 140 because the weight was horrible on him. And getting knocked down by Ricardo Torres especially doesn’t bother me much. Torres is a wicked puncher. I’m more concerned about this idea that Cotto has bad stamina now apparently.
To be perfectly honest I think Clottey is getting some of the Mijares “no one pays attention to this guy so let’s make him out to be better than good” treatment, and I think Cotto’s going to carve him up in this fight. He’s a better puncher, a more active fighter, faster. I think he’s clearly a better fighter and I don’t worry about Cotto’s stamina or Clottey busting him up.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
i ono,i think it’s a combination of many things for mosley’s punching power. first, he has above average actual impact power. second, he’s very fast, so the power punches he does throw are more likely to land (tho many of the KO’s usually come in the later rounds, which are more wear and tear vs. 1 punch knockout power). third, he has a lot of heart and guts, so he actually pursues the knockout vs. settling for decisions. Fourth, accuracy, i feel his punches are very accurate, for example, if he’s gonna hit you in the temple or jaw, he’s gonna hit you there, or the solar plexus, then it’s the solar plexus.
I would say 9/10 boxers would have settled for a decision victory in the mayorga fight, however, it is mosley who went the extra mile to aim for the knockout. I feel it’s more a question of his heart that got him a lot of his later round knockouts, not his actual “punching power”. I think mayorga and some other bigger boxers, maybe even margarito have bigger “punching power”, but mosley DID hit margarito probably with RECORD number quantity and percentage of power shots during the fight and he was the ONLY fighter to go for Margarito’s body after all of his 40 something fights. I’m not taking away from mosley’s abilities, but i stil think he’s above average at most.
Heart doesn’t hit people. Punching does.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 7, 2009 11:43 PM EST up reply actions
cotto is gonna get beatdown
awesome fight. i cant wait.
also, what a terrible decision by the cotto camp. he should have ducked him like everyone else is doing.
cotto is going to get schooled if clottys hands hold up. thats the only reason why he lost to “plaster fists” margarito
early pick is clotty by 8th round tko.
I really don't think he has the firepower
I do think he has the defensive ability and enough power to keep Cotto honest to win a decision. Cotto’s got balls — he fights anyone. Good on him for being willing to fight Clottey, and again good on HBO for more or less making this happen (I don’t think Showtime has a snowball’s chance of getting this fight).
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
It is always nice to get a unification….
I hope Mosley can fight Berto… and the winners fight each other to have an undesputed champion.
It’s funny that fighters in EVERY weight divison want to fight Manny. Maybe it’s the first time in a long time that a p4p fighter can just to so many weight classes. He’s got lightweights, jr. welterweights, and even real welterweights chasing him! He’s got marqez, hatton, cotto, mosley all chasing his p4p status. What a final and ironic universe! :)
minus a p. rican referree/hometown stoppage, i think clottey could take it. :) WAR CLOTTEY! he was absolutely robbed by the ref in the last go round.
Gatti.
Dekkers.
Pele.
Tadahiro Nomura.
Hidehiko Yoshida.
Aoki.
Kang.
Vanderlei.
by theworldsoldestsport on Mar 10, 2009 2:39 PM EDT reply actions
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