Clottey still interested in avenging defeats to Cotto and Margarito
January 25th, 2010
By Chris Williams: If former International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KO’s) somehow gets by his next opponent WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on March 13th at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, Clottey, 32, will have an easy time selecting his next fights. Clottey still is interested in avenging his defeats to Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, and would like to face both of them in the future to get revenge for those bitter losses.
Clottey only has himself to blame for the loss to Cotto in June 2009. Clottey fought well up until the 9th round, at which point he ran out of gas and spent the better part of the remaining three rounds with his back against the ropes and both gloves glued to his face. It may have been somewhat of a controversial decision, but it’s easy to see why two of the judges decided to give the fight to Cotto instead.
Clottey, if he really wanted to get the win, should have been much more aggressive in the last three rounds and stayed off the ropes. Clottey looked tired and didn’t throw enough punches. This wasn’t the first time that Clottey had made this mistake, though. He had the same problem occur in his 12 round decision loss to Margarito in December 2006.
Clottey fought well for the first five rounds, and then suddenly started to look tired and throw few punches. He said later that he hurt his left hand, which kept him from letting his hands go, but Clottey looked really tired as well. Margarito just outworked him and did so by throwing an avalanche of punches that night. It would have been hard to see Clottey keeping up with him even under the best of circumstances.
Clottey might be better off staying clear of Cotto and Margarito if he can somehow beat Pacquiao on March 13th. The smart fight would be a rematch with Pacquiao rather than wasting time with Cotto and Margarito. I think those are good fights for the future, win or lose against Pacquiao, but not anytime soon. Clottey would probably be effective against the vast majority of the welterweights in the top 15, but I can see him struggling against Cotto, Margarito, Shane Mosley, Pacquiao, Andre Berto and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But he would probably have enough to beat the rest of them for the time being, unless Clottey suddenly gets old overnight. At 32, Clottey probably has another few good years in him before he starts to rapidly fade as a fighter. I think his stamina will start getting worse in the next couple of years and when that happens, Clottey will have problems winning fights because he’s not a knockout puncher anymore.
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Clottey fought Margarito with a hurt hand and it was still about a draw because Joshua pocketed the first four rounds.
@meditator. clottey aint nothing. cotto would whoop him, margarito would whoop him and mosley would whoop him. watch more boxing before you talk
Cottey’s will goes only so far. He’s physically talented, but does not have the will to win big fights… bottom line.
Little oli thats guackamoly.cotto dropped him in the first round.Got head butted,fought with one eye.and pulled out the later championship rounds.IT was heading to a draw.But cotto cleary pulled out the last round.they got a old saying,KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT WHEN GROWN FOLKS TALK.
Mediator do you know any thing about boxing.Clottey boring.Hes not a marque fighter.If anything split decision.But to give him the v over cotto is ludacris.And as for margarito he should be banned for life.Forcrisake he was caught cheating red handed literally.
Chris, you are way wrong. First, I saw Clottey winning the fight 114-113. Second, Clottey landed 222 punches(+43) and 36% of his punches(Cotto: 25%) and he did all of that by throwing 101 less punches than Cotto. Third, Clottey had Cotto in the ropes in all of those rounds you mention, he was the pressure fighter, he outlanded Cotto 19-7 in the 10th but everyone seems to give Cotto the round for 2 counter hooks he landed ending the round. Fourth, Clottey was tired but he kept pressing and Cotto was even more tired. And to finish, Clottey won every round from the 7th to the 11th on my card(I gave him also the 5th and the 3rd I think was even), so 2nd half was all about Clottey.
chris, you really need to watch cotto/clottey again. that wasn’t what happened. clottey clearly won that fight too.
Mr. Williams, did you watch the Cotto – Clottey fight? If you did you will know that he did not spend rounds 10-12 with ‘his back against the ropes and both gloves glued to his face’.
In fact, he had Cotto on his bike in those rounds and he was chasing and trying to hit a retreating, pot-shotting, non-engaging Cotto.
Cotto’s only significant punches were the two he landed in the last 5 seconds of round 10. Cotto didn’t land much much in round 11 either. In round 12 he hit Clottey with a low blow and then a rabbit punch (when Cotto had his back on the ropes). Infact Clottey outlanded Cotto in round 10 and round 11 was even. I’s only the 12th the Cotto outlanded him and even that was close.
So please watch the fight and don’t just repeat what you hear people say.
As to the Margarito fight, Margarito was still throwing ‘an avalance of punches’ in the first 5 rounds but was being effectively countered. Infact Margarito didn’t land a significant punch that troubled Clottey the entire fight, Clottey however rocked Margarito on several occasions(even after the 5th round with an injured hand) Clottey does not expend a lot of energy in fighting. He is very controlled and economical in his movement and punching. He does not rely on volume punching but rather on placing and timing his shots, he relies on accuracy. His punch output, even though it drops (as does most fighters), does not vary widely down the stretch in most of his fights.
Clottey can beat Shane Mosley, Margarito, Cotto and Berto, their styles cannot penetrate his defense. The only welterweights I believe can defeat him are Mayweather and Pacqiuao and even they will not find it easy.
Do you really believe Berto can beat Clottey? Did you watch Clottey’s fights before you made that statement?
I doubt I can chnage you point of view so let agree to disagree. After the Pacquiao-Clottey fight we can all assess or reaccess Clottey.