Originally Posted by
Bilbo
It was a great fight and honestly could have gone either way but I felt Cotto shaded it.
I think Kellerman summed it up perfectly when he said Clottey was the better fighter, Cotto the better man.
For me it was Cotto who displayed the heart of a champion, coming back from adversity without complaint, and winning the championship rounds, or the 12th at least, and getting the decisive knockdown.
Clottey for all his talent for me doesn't have a champions heart. He gave a performance Christiano Ronaldo would have been proud of when he fell and hurt his knee and then rather pathetically tried to get a point deduction from Cotto claiming a back of the head injury in the final round.
Cotto could have pulled out after 5 or 6 rounds and won on points due to the accidental cut but instead he displayed a champion's courage and won the fight over 12 rounds.
I have no doubt had the roles been reversed Clottey would have been out of there in 6 and got a technical win, he just seems to exaggerate all his injuries and injustices and in such situations, when a fight is has close as this I'd always hope they give it to the fighter who fought like a real man, which was Cotto tonight.
It was similar in a way to the Winky Taylor fight, Clottey like Wright had the fight going into the 12th but with victory within his grasp he took his foot off the pedal and didn't give his all. He can moan and bitch but ultimately the loss was his own doing.
I do agree that 116-111 was far too wide though, only a point or 2 either way in this one.