The Manny/Floyd/Cotto Triangle (This Is An Intelligent Discussion No Huggers Allowed)
This is not going to be a hugging session for any one fighter, or even for more than one fighter. I am simply going to ask a question, and pre-empt your responses with my own brief thoughts. I hope you all understand that this is as much to attempt to answer the question in my own head as it is to create debate, or at least to provide a little more perspective.
In recent(ish) boxing triangles, it has often occurred that A beats B, B beats C, then almost counter-intuitvely, C goes on to beat A. It happened with Hopkins/Taylor/Pavlik, also with Hopkins/Jones/Tarver, and other examples that are well enough known to you all that I won't patronize you by naming them, or even attempting to, exhaustively.
As we as boxing fans all know, there is a massive outcry right now for Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao. It's the one we all want. SC said somehting himself recently along the lines of "I don't care what else happens, what other fights are made, I just want to see Manny/Floyd"
There is also a hell of a lot of talk about Manny fighting Miguel Cotto. Cotto obviously has to go through Clottey first, but I am assuming he will, and I would be willing to bet that most other serious fans would agree with me. Aside from a fight which I somewhat ashamedly still have in my top 5 fights of all time, Cotto has never been beaten. Whether or not Margarito cheated in that fight does not take away from its majesty when considered all on its own; that was a truly great fight, from both men.
It may not be the popular thing to say, but I still watch that fight with a sense of awe. I digress.I do not want this post to turn into a debate about Toni, and I hope that will be respected. I only mention the fight at all to highlight Cotto, and his place at my boxing table. I said at the time that I did not feel Cotto should be discredited in any way for losing that fight, as it was a great war of attrition, a great spectacle, and only with hindsight can we retrospecively name it worthless. I do not believe it was worthless, it showed, whether Toni was cheating or not, the sheer class of Cotto, and even under that sort of duress and fatigue, he was awesome.
Anyway,I said this would not be a hugging session, and I will now attempt to refrain from that poor practice for the rest of this post.
Basically, my gut feeling tells me that if Manny fights Cotto, he will be beaten. I also do not subscribe to the idea right now that Cotto would beat Floyd. Yet although the logical reasoning is then to assume that were Floyd and Manny to sign up and lace up, Floyd would be too good for Manny.
This is my problem.
I really believe that Manny would beat Floyd.
Now, since Cotto is not a massive amount bigger than Manny, I cannot attribute my leaning toward him to that factor, and as far as all the other fundamentals go, Manny probably has the advantage. Yet I think Cotto beats Manny.
So, if this triangle were ever to materialize, which way do you see it going? I remember SC asking something similar a while back regarding Nate Campbell, Juan Manuel Marquez and one other. It may have even been Pacquiao, but I wouldn't be able to say with certainty.
I personally have it something like;
Pacquiao bt Mayweather SD-12 (I'm assuming this fight could be made at 143/144)
Cotto bt Pacquiao KO-9 (This fight would have to be at 147, since Cotto would never come down)
Mayweather bt Cotto UD-12 (at 147,obviously!)
I'd like others' thoughts on this, if possible, the more the merrier.
In recent(ish) boxing triangles, it has often occurred that A beats B, B beats C, then almost counter-intuitvely, C goes on to beat A. It happened with Hopkins/Taylor/Pavlik, also with Hopkins/Jones/Tarver, and other examples that are well enough known to you all that I won't patronize you by naming them, or even attempting to, exhaustively.
As we as boxing fans all know, there is a massive outcry right now for Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao. It's the one we all want. SC said somehting himself recently along the lines of "I don't care what else happens, what other fights are made, I just want to see Manny/Floyd"
There is also a hell of a lot of talk about Manny fighting Miguel Cotto. Cotto obviously has to go through Clottey first, but I am assuming he will, and I would be willing to bet that most other serious fans would agree with me. Aside from a fight which I somewhat ashamedly still have in my top 5 fights of all time, Cotto has never been beaten. Whether or not Margarito cheated in that fight does not take away from its majesty when considered all on its own; that was a truly great fight, from both men.
It may not be the popular thing to say, but I still watch that fight with a sense of awe. I digress.I do not want this post to turn into a debate about Toni, and I hope that will be respected. I only mention the fight at all to highlight Cotto, and his place at my boxing table. I said at the time that I did not feel Cotto should be discredited in any way for losing that fight, as it was a great war of attrition, a great spectacle, and only with hindsight can we retrospecively name it worthless. I do not believe it was worthless, it showed, whether Toni was cheating or not, the sheer class of Cotto, and even under that sort of duress and fatigue, he was awesome.
Anyway,I said this would not be a hugging session, and I will now attempt to refrain from that poor practice for the rest of this post.
Basically, my gut feeling tells me that if Manny fights Cotto, he will be beaten. I also do not subscribe to the idea right now that Cotto would beat Floyd. Yet although the logical reasoning is then to assume that were Floyd and Manny to sign up and lace up, Floyd would be too good for Manny.
This is my problem.
I really believe that Manny would beat Floyd.
Now, since Cotto is not a massive amount bigger than Manny, I cannot attribute my leaning toward him to that factor, and as far as all the other fundamentals go, Manny probably has the advantage. Yet I think Cotto beats Manny.
So, if this triangle were ever to materialize, which way do you see it going? I remember SC asking something similar a while back regarding Nate Campbell, Juan Manuel Marquez and one other. It may have even been Pacquiao, but I wouldn't be able to say with certainty.
I personally have it something like;
Pacquiao bt Mayweather SD-12 (I'm assuming this fight could be made at 143/144)
Cotto bt Pacquiao KO-9 (This fight would have to be at 147, since Cotto would never come down)
Mayweather bt Cotto UD-12 (at 147,obviously!)
I'd like others' thoughts on this, if possible, the more the merrier.
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