Cotto beats Clottey- next up...PACMAN!

Benny BuKu

BAD NEWS
ill o.g.
This article was taken from "The Sporting Blog"- written by Dave "Large" Larzelere. It was said prior to the Cotto/Clottey fight, Cotto was just a bargaining tool to drive up the price on Pacquiao/Mayweather, but since Mayweather postponed his fight against Marquez, this dream match might become a reality.
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What a weekend for the fight game. First, there was the insane Miguel Cotto vs. Josh Clottey fight in New York City, one visited by gruesome gashes, a multitude of fouls, a "body slam," and then punctuated with a highly controversial split decision in Cotto’s favor that left Clottey foaming at the mouth and calling for a rematch.


In other words, on Saturday night, professional wrestling returned to Madison Square Garden.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, another fighter who knows a little something about the wrestling biz, Floyd Mayweather Jr., sent shockwaves through the boxing world with a press release announcing that his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, scheduled for July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, would have to be postponed due to a rib injury that interrupted Floyd’s training. Although no makeup date has been announced yet, the word on the street is September 19.

And so, in the space of 24 hours, promoter Bob Arum’s nightmare, in the person of Mr. Cash Money Mayweather, recused himself from the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes, and Arum’s ultimate dream fantasy with a lot of zeroes on the end of it and a cherry on top came to unlikely fruition. It now appears all but certain that Cotto and Pacquiao, both promoted by Arum’s Top Rank Inc., will fight later this year at the MGM Grand, with the date on the table right now being November 14.

Arum has been pushing for a Pac Man/Cotto match-up since the moment Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton on May 2. I admit that I never thought it would happen. Cotto is too dangerous an opponent, and the money to be made from a Pacquiao/Mayweather too ridiculous, to take such a risk in the meantime.

And I honestly doubt that Cotto’s name would figure into this drama as anything but a negotiating ploy right now if Floyd were still going forward with the Marquez fight on July 18. Today, Arum is insisting in the press that Pacquiao, who was ringside at the Cotto/Clottey fight and received a huge ovation when introduced to the predominantly Puerto Rican crowd, asked Arum to make a date with Cotto soon after the final bell had rung on Saturday night, long before they knew anything about the Mayweather/Marquez postponement. Based on insider reports, I find that dubious at best. The word floating around the press after the Cotto/Clottey fight was that WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto was next in line for Cotto because Pacquiao was entirely fixated on fighting Floyd.

Obviously that changed with Sunday’s news from the Mayweather camp, and now, after a razor-thin margin of victory for Cotto over Clottey and an unexpected shocker from Money May on Sunday, Arum finds himself suddenly posed with every promoter’s dream situation – negotiating a mega-fight in which he represents both principals. All he has to worry about is striking a deal between the two camps for the bout’s catchweight. Pacquiao’s camp has been adamant that Manny would not fight either Cotto or Shane Mosley above 143 pounds. Meanwhile, Cotto has said that he wouldn’t consider anything below 145.

Something tells me that once the truck shows up carrying all the burlap sacks with dollar-signs on them, both sides will find some unforeseen wiggle room. I’m guessing it’ll get made at 144. And after that’s hammered out, Arum is sitting pretty. He came out today and said that he was going to try and have the entire deal signed and sealed by week’s end, and I bet he’s going to try his tail off. I’m not sure that I think fighting Miguel Cotto is the right move for Manny Pacquiao at this point, and, depending on the catch-weight, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea for Cotto either. There’s really only one person in the world for whom Pacquiao vs. Cotto is a no-brainer, and he’s known to all residents of Fistiana as The Bobfather.
 

Cleverwon

Paradigm P
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 74
that was the illest experience ever. im saying, i dont like emmanuel stuart... but its pretty fuckin cool that he spilled buku's pops beer on me. ha.
 

Cleverwon

Paradigm P
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 74
word lol. wtf is chizzlers. and who was that cool black dude, a ref too?
 

Cleverwon

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ill o.g.
Battle Points: 74
lmao. fuckin chizzla. yea, yo i found out im actually your dad's cousin/nephew lmao.
 

Cleverwon

Paradigm P
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 74
G

Griffin Avid

Guest
Arum promotes both Cotto and Clottey so he's already done this. We're all hoping Bob A is an honest guy cause this is approaching Don King levels where one promoter has all the fighters under his umbrella. Or should I say only teh fighters at his table get to fight. Ask Tito Trinidad.

Awesome fighter. Falls out with King. Goes away for years.
Makes up with King, he's on the world stage -just like that.
It's a double-edged sword.
 

Benny BuKu

BAD NEWS
ill o.g.
It was a close fight but Cotto won. I think the problem is perception. Everyone knows Cotto...expects him to destroy the guy you don't know...the guy you don't know (unless you really follow the sport) is better than you expected- makes a good fight of it- so you feel he got robbed. I saw it live, watched the replay on tv the next day and scored it. Saw a 2 point decision in Cotto's favor. The knock down helped and Cotto won the last few rounds giving him the win. He didn't hurt Clottey, but the knockdown was clean. I will say this- I don't know what fight that one judge was watching that had Cotto winning by 5-6 points....that was crazy. But 1-2 points is still a win. Plus, Cotto wins that fight 9 outta 10 times especially had he not suffered a gash over his left eye from a headbut. But he still fought through it and did what he had to do.
 

Cleverwon

Paradigm P
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 74
It was a close fight but Cotto won. I think the problem is perception. Everyone knows Cotto...expects him to destroy the guy you don't know...the guy you don't know (unless you really follow the sport) is better than you expected- makes a good fight of it- so you feel he got robbed. I saw it live, watched the replay on tv the next day and scored it. Saw a 2 point decision in Cotto's favor. The knock down helped and Cotto won the last few rounds giving him the win. He didn't hurt Clottey, but the knockdown was clean. I will say this- I don't know what fight that one judge was watching that had Cotto winning by 5-6 points....that was crazy. But 1-2 points is still a win. Plus, Cotto wins that fight 9 outta 10 times especially had he not suffered a gash over his left eye from a headbut. But he still fought through it and did what he had to do.

no doubt. i rewatched it last nite and it was close, but cotto def won. it was dead even up to the 11th, and cotto outboxed clottey easily the last 2 rounds. that judge btw has a history of wild scoring like that, dont think he'll be around too much longer.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Lol. Mayweather gonna get fucked up by Marquez.. Mayweather had to fight someone but he's too scared to fight Pacquiao. Little does he know that if Marquez lives up to his billing, Mayweather gonna get knocked around.

Cotto-Pacquiao is going to be good... And it will definitely be a turning point for both fighters in their respective careers..
 

Benny BuKu

BAD NEWS
ill o.g.
Marquez is too small and prolly too old for Mayweather. But who knows...that's the great thing about Boxing. I think Pacquiao is the definite favorite in a fight w/ Cotto but they are in my opinion the 2 best so I wouldn't be too dissappointed if Cotto lost.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Marquez is too small and prolly too old for Mayweather. But who knows...that's the great thing about Boxing. I think Pacquiao is the definite favorite in a fight w/ Cotto but they are in my opinion the 2 best so I wouldn't be too dissappointed if Cotto lost.

oh..I thought he was fighting Juanma Lopez.. Lopez is coming up and he's displaying some power..I forgot what his weight class was....

But if Cotto loses, his career is ruined...If he wins, he'd be a superstar.....

If Pacquiao loses, question marks will pop up over his stellar career. If he wins, he'd just solidify his already great status.
 

Benny BuKu

BAD NEWS
ill o.g.
oh..I thought he was fighting Juanma Lopez.. Lopez is coming up and he's displaying some power..I forgot what his weight class was....

But if Cotto loses, his career is ruined...If he wins, he'd be a superstar.....

If Pacquiao loses, question marks will pop up over his stellar career. If he wins, he'd just solidify his already great status.


I don't agree w/ Cotto's career being ruined for losing to the best fighter in the world. I think he's expected to lose- but if he loses, he loses to the best. If he get's destroyed like Hatton then I agree...but that won't happen. If it's a classic war then he's justified for being in the ring w/ Pacquiao. Remember, Pacman's gonna ask that Cotto comes down in weight to fight him. Cotto has a suspect chin when he goes below his normal fight weight of 147- he's alot weaker but he's gotta take the fight regardless.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Yeah, but he'd have to fight his way up if he loses...by then his status wouldn't be so great by the time he gets a rematch..which will probably happen since they're both under the same promoter...


He's a good fighter..I don't think he's great...his chin is too suspect...but he does have heart...


I'm a big fan of Cotto...I've watched his early fights on ESPN with my pops and he used to tell me he's going to be one of the best...he was partly right because he can't take a punch but his boxing skills are very impressive.
 

Benny BuKu

BAD NEWS
ill o.g.
Only person he lost to had cement in his gloves....and he dominated most of that fight (until the cement dried). He's the 2nd or 3rd best fighter in the world hands down. Now's he's fighting for that #1 status. Most fighter's don't come back from a beating like he took from Margarito. But we'll see. I'm not one for talkin smack. We'll let Cotto do the talking. Like I said, the way it's being perceived, Cotto is going to get destroyed by Pacquiao. Plus it's almost a guarantee that the cut he just suffered in the last fight will not properly heal in time for a November fight so at some point he should be blinded in his left eye again. But something tells me that he's not goin out like that. They're both True Warriors so either way it's going to be an entertaining fight.
 

Sucio

Old and dirty...
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 304
Yeah..the thing w/ Margarito is like the thing with Barry Bonds... He wasn't tested positive when it counted...Margarito's wrap wasn't checked, either.....but regardless...Cotto hit him with everything he had and Margarito ate all of it... I don't think cement gloves helped his chin but it definitely helped his punching....especially when Margarito got his ass whipped the following fight....

I still think he's 3rd at best...he still has to be Mayweather I think...Even though I know he could...
 
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