Miguel A. Cotto really IS the boxing's whipping boy!

[benjamin2004]

that's an excelent article.

[R.Winky Wright]

"It is against the organization's rules to be forced to fight at an arbitrary catchweight for the title."

I hope it's a dirty fight with a Tito Hopkins finish!

[deanrw]

Because people who have no interest in boxing as a sport just being a fan of an undefeated loud mouth make it seem like having a loss is a career ending fiasco. It isn't just fans of Floyd either, it's also the nationalists. You have your Margarito fans defending him to the death intentionally blinding themselves to what should be obvious. You have your Pacquiao fans using his questionable loss to Margarito as ammunition. You have those who call him a quitter and when it all comes down to it, its comedy. I can't take fans like that serious. There are maybe 20 people on here who seem like they know boxing and have been following it for a long time. Outside of that you have a bunch of cults and fan clubs on here acting like **** jockeys for there favorite man. Posting every little quote and article there praises there idol and belittles the next man.

Man what an opening. I'm going to roll out the red carpet for you.

[Njord777]

Miguel Cotto isn't boxing's whipping boy. HBO was slurping him off big time for years. He's been given air-time, fights, and slowly stepped up competition over the years. He's a HBO stable fighter. They gave him lots of love. Up until the Margarito fight Miguel had nothing but positive spin behind him. Most recognized him as possibly the de factor ruler at 147, and that he might possibly be getting better with every fight. That's not to say there weren't some questions about him, but until he was beaten at the weight, his victories over Mosley, Judah, and Quinatna were all solid wins and added to his resume.

Then came that battle with Margarito, though. It's not like Miguel has spent his career at welterweight. He hasn't. He'd been looking good, fighting decent opposition, but then bloody, battered, tired and exhausted he took a knee against his rival, and then was stopped. It was a brutal ending.

You don't instantly come back from that. Especially when the man that beat you gets whipped by Mosley. Yes, we all factor in the cheating that Margarito might have been doing, but the fact is that Miguel got knocked out- a blemish on his reign at 147. The Clottey fight was damn close, too. It's hard not to have those previous questions made bold and more obvious with his current standing.

Miguel is still respected. Cotto still has many, many fans and HBO continues to show him love. The fact is, though, he needs to come back from his Margarito loss. That doesn't happen over night. I can't say he's anyone's whipping boy when HBO has been riding him since back around the Torres fight.

I think Cotto is right about where he belongs. I mean, he's fighting Pacquiao next and he'll get a lot of attention and possibly a victory out of it. Should he beat Manny, there's no way he won't be Tito reincarnted, so....

[Pullcounter]

Miguel Cotto isn't boxing's whipping boy. HBO was slurping him off big time for years. He's been given air-time, fights, and slowly stepped up competition over the years. He's a HBO stable fighter. They gave him lots of love. Up until the Margarito fight Miguel had nothing but positive spin behind him. Most recognized him as possibly the de factor ruler at 147, and that he might possibly be getting better with every fight. That's not to say there weren't some questions about him, but until he was beaten at the weight, his victories over Mosley, Judah, and Quinatna were all solid wins and added to his resume.

Then came that battle with Margarito, though. It's not like Miguel has spent his career at welterweight. He hasn't. He'd been looking good, fighting decent opposition, but then bloody, battered, tired and exhausted he took a knee against his rival, and then was stopped. It was a brutal ending.

You don't instantly come back from that. Especially when the man that beat you gets whipped by Mosley. Yes, we all factor in the cheating that Margarito might have been doing, but the fact is that Miguel got knocked out- a blemish on his reign at 147. The Clottey fight was damn close, too. It's hard not to have those previous questions made bold and more obvious with his current standing.

Miguel is still respected. Cotto still has many, many fans and HBO continues to show him love. The fact is, though, he needs to come back from his Margarito loss. That doesn't happen over night. I can't say he's anyone's whipping boy when HBO has been riding him since back around the Torres fight.

I think Cotto is right about where he belongs. I mean, he's fighting Pacquiao next and he'll get a lot of attention and possibly a victory out of it. Should he beat Manny, there's no way he won't be Tito reincarnted, so....

true, cotto came into boxing w/ a silver spoon in his mouth.

[baya]

Miguel Cotto isn't boxing's whipping boy. HBO was slurping him off big time for years. He's been given air-time, fights, and slowly stepped up competition over the years. He's a HBO stable fighter. They gave him lots of love. Up until the Margarito fight Miguel had nothing but positive spin behind him. Most recognized him as possibly the de factor ruler at 147, and that he might possibly be getting better with every fight. That's not to say there weren't some questions about him, but until he was beaten at the weight, his victories over Mosley, Judah, and Quinatna were all solid wins and added to his resume.

Then came that battle with Margarito, though. It's not like Miguel has spent his career at welterweight. He hasn't. He'd been looking good, fighting decent opposition, but then bloody, battered, tired and exhausted he took a knee against his rival, and then was stopped. It was a brutal ending.

You don't instantly come back from that. Especially when the man that beat you gets whipped by Mosley. Yes, we all factor in the cheating that Margarito might have been doing, but the fact is that Miguel got knocked out- a blemish on his reign at 147. The Clottey fight was damn close, too. It's hard not to have those previous questions made bold and more obvious with his current standing.

Miguel is still respected. Cotto still has many, many fans and HBO continues to show him love. The fact is, though, he needs to come back from his Margarito loss. That doesn't happen over night. I can't say he's anyone's whipping boy when HBO has been riding him since back around the Torres fight.

I think Cotto is right about where he belongs. I mean, he's fighting Pacquiao next and he'll get a lot of attention and possibly a victory out of it. Should he beat Manny, there's no way he won't be Tito reincarnted, so....

valid points.

i remember as well that cotto was very fitting of the bill.

but no one that i can remember, odlh or floyd, with all that luster behind them has delivered on those fights that the 'chosen one' should be in like cotto has.

the high risk low reward fights again and again - cotto is a mans fighter.

you're right that a win gets cotto back up to where he belongs; a loss is no ones fault but his own.

[Hiram Joel]

true, cotto came into boxing w/ a silver spoon in his mouth.

so did PBF...

[Njord777]

true, cotto came into boxing w/ a silver spoon in his mouth.

I mean, I understand people are a bit miffed at him having to fight Pacquiao at a catchweight, but let's not whine about one incident and selectivley forget the last four years. Miguel has been given every HBO date he could want. Jim Lampley and company, as they often do with HBO stable fighters, always praise him like he's their favorite pop star and they're 13 year old girls. Cotto had very little in the way of criticism from fans or the media- that was all thrown at Mayweather. In fact, most were saying, 'Hey Floyd, if you want to call yourself the man at 147 you need to fight Cotto- the REAL man.' We remember those days, right?

I heard very little in the way of 'Cotto isn't that good' or 'Cotto belong at 140'. He lost to Margarito, and when some had questioned his chin or other fundamentals to begin with, they were left with some fuel. Now, I think Margarito might have been cheating, and Cotto really went to war with him- and I don't think he was a ***** or weak to have taken that knee or to have lost- but the fact remains; he was knocked out. That's life. When you lose like that, it takes awhile to regain the luster you had previously.

Let's not worry- this is a minor bump for Cotto. If he beats Manny he'll be back on the throne with more people bobbing on his lap than ever before.

[Fights]

Miguel Cotto isn't boxing's whipping boy. HBO was slurping him off big time for years. He's been given air-time, fights, and slowly stepped up competition over the years. He's a HBO stable fighter. They gave him lots of love. Up until the Margarito fight Miguel had nothing but positive spin behind him. Most recognized him as possibly the de factor ruler at 147, and that he might possibly be getting better with every fight. That's not to say there weren't some questions about him, but until he was beaten at the weight, his victories over Mosley, Judah, and Quinatna were all solid wins and added to his resume.

Then came that battle with Margarito, though. It's not like Miguel has spent his career at welterweight. He hasn't. He'd been looking good, fighting decent opposition, but then bloody, battered, tired and exhausted he took a knee against his rival, and then was stopped. It was a brutal ending.

You don't instantly come back from that. Especially when the man that beat you gets whipped by Mosley. Yes, we all factor in the cheating that Margarito might have been doing, but the fact is that Miguel got knocked out- a blemish on his reign at 147. The Clottey fight was damn close, too. It's hard not to have those previous questions made bold and more obvious with his current standing.

Miguel is still respected. Cotto still has many, many fans and HBO continues to show him love. The fact is, though, he needs to come back from his Margarito loss. That doesn't happen over night. I can't say he's anyone's whipping boy when HBO has been riding him since back around the Torres fight.

I think Cotto is right about where he belongs. I mean, he's fighting Pacquiao next and he'll get a lot of attention and possibly a victory out of it. Should he beat Manny, there's no way he won't be Tito reincarnted, so....

True.

With a good amateur pedigree, Cotto had been groomed for stardom, rising up from light-welterweight to welterweight.

[Hiram Joel]

its true about HBO... he is very lucky IMO. But to be an underdog with a man who fought at lightweight not to long ago is a disgrace.