By Matt Stein: If there’s anyone whose stock was increased this past weekend, it was Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs), who with his previous 12-round unanimous decision over Shane Mosley in November 2007, has to be seen as the fighter to beat in the welterweight division. Cotto, 28, may have lost by an 11th round TKO to Margarito in 2008, but he fought him incredibly tough and he did it by not clinching constantly in the manner that Mosley did in beating Margarito.
Cotto only very rarely clinched at all in the fight and only then late in the fight after he was hurt by Margarito in both the 10th and 11th rounds. Margarito has taken a hit with his defeat to Mosley, as well as the problem that has cropped up with his glove wraps. It’s hard to tell which has hurt him more – the glove wrap or the loss to Mosley, but taken as a whole, he’s taken a big hit with his popularity among fans.
Mosley has also increased in popularity due to his win over Margarito, naturally, but it’s hard to give him as much credit as he could have gotten because he didn’t fight Margarito in the same manner as Cotto did. If Cotto had opted to clinch often with Margarito, I would have given him an excellent chance at beating Margarito, too.
Cotto refuses to clinch in his fights, however, seeing it as something that takes away from his performance. Perhaps like many Eastern European fighters, I sees it as a stalling tactic used to take unneeded breaks and prevent fighting to take place.
Cotto defeated Mosley in November 2007, using his jab to spear Mosley from the outside and hit him with hard body shots on the inside. In the early rounds, Mosley was a bit over-matched by Cotto and unable to handle his power or his high work rate. The fight turned out to be closer as Mosley came back in the second part, putting pressure on Cotto and winning some of the later rounds.
However, Cotto still was the better fighter and won enough of the rounds in the second half to pull out the decision. Cotto struggled in the second part but was clearly the stronger fighter. Based on that fight, I would give him a good chance of beating Mosley in a rematch. That’s a fight that needs to be made if Mosley is smart.
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