Where does Cotto's left jab rank among active fighters?

[RozzySean]

What makes Cotto's jab so impressive is not that's better than so many other fighters, but rather that it comes from a guy who fights low and is known for power and the left hook. He's a little like Frazier in that regard. Frazier had a very good jab for a guy who fights short. You expect a good jab from a slick boxer or a tall fighter. You don't expect it from Cotto.

[Macho]

Well i will say when ODLH was in his Prime and with his style before , he had a great Jab too , remembering the fight with Tito Trinidad that was a great fight with class of boxing......

[SweetPea]

Well i will say when ODLH was in his Prime and with his style before , he had a great Jab too , remembering the fight with Tito Trinidad that was a great fight with class of boxing......

Oscar definitely had a great jab in his prime. The Oscar-Quartey fight was one of the best jab matchups of recent times.

[amat]

Yes it was, Quartey has one of my favorite jabs of all time.

Anyways, I would definitely consider Cotto's jab among the best which is amazing because I never saw the jab as a primary weapon until the Quintana fight. I think this goes to show how great of a fighter Cotto was. A lot of people with his type of power stop improving, Cotto has been improving ALL THE TIME and constantly tightening his defense and developing that jab which he cemented as one of the best in the Mosley bout.

And like you said, he might have P4P one of the more forceful and hard jabs in the business.
In no particular order and off my head I'd say the best current jabs in boxing belong to these bunch.

Wlad, Wright, Kessler, Mayweather, Rafael Marquez, Nonito, Cotto and Cunningham.

Other guys like Lamont Peterson, AJ Banal and Andre Ward have very good jabs but aren't at that level yet.

[Taeth]

I think he has the most powerful jab in the business p4p, but its not the best.. the list goes something like this
Wlad
Wright
Kessler
R. Marquez
ODLH(look at his fight against Mayorga)
Taylor(great jab)
Cotto
Mayweather(isn't as effective as it used to be, but its still very strong and fast and accurate)

The funny thing is both Wright and Kessler's jabs were pretty much nullified by Calzaghe and HOpkins compared how they normally work, but Kessler's really set up his right hand against Calzaghe, and Wright still controlled the distance at some points against Hopkins.

That being said I can't believe nobody has talked about Wright except Amat. I mean since 2005 he has dominated Trinidad with it, and he badly outjabbed both Taylor and Quartey in their encounters.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

Relatively speaking... Cotto probably jabs harder than any current fighter. Plus it comes with good speed and is rarely off target.

I always viewed a jab as an irritant but Cotto's jab is close to sickening.

[Pugilistic]

behind wlad and winky

[Deanrw]

Cotto's Jab and left hook hybrib (half jab half hook) is amazing.

What is incredible is that he seems to have it so perfectly timed. Poor Gomez could not avoid it. He can be in a awkward position while moving out of the way of a shot, and still get that out there and smack it right into the guys face. It is fast and powerful. It really damages opponents.


I think Cotto has evolved into the most complete fighter alive today. He just does everything so well. He really does no wrong in there and his confidence is through the roof.

[Chino]

Cotto looked great...against a nobody. ODLH will look as good against another nobody. So yeah, cheers for both.
Anyways, I did see Cotto a bit faster than in other fights. Liked his jab.

[RP33]

Cotto's jab def looked great against Gomez..

as just about all of these fighters have been mentioned already, Jermain Taylor's jab is ridiculous.. he just stops you in your tracks when he hits you with it.. Klitschko's jab is obviously one of the best.. DLH's is great, Kessler works everything off of his jab.. Winky's jab is one of his best punch's if not his best.. and of course Pretty Boy Floyd.. His right hand leads are definitely more effective, but when he feels that he's in control of the fight he'll unleash his jab, and it is a thing of beauty..

[SweetPea]

I didn't give my answer right away when I started the thread because I wanted to see what others had to say first.

I would rank Wlad's jab #1, both in terms of PFP power and how much he relies on it.

I think Taylor actually has the second most powerful jab in boxing, but he forgets about it for long stretches and doesn't use it nearly as much as he should.

I think Winky has the second most effective jab (behind only Wlad) in terms of how important it is to his style, but I put him a little behind Taylor/Cotto in terms of its power.

In the end, I'd rank them:

1. Wlad
2. Winky
3. Cotto
4. Taylor
5. Kessler

De La Hoya and Quartey both had great jabs, but Quartey is too inactive for me to rank him, and Oscar is fairly inactive, and his one recent fight "wasn't a night for the jab."

[OumaFan]

It doesn't have anything to do with how his jab looked against a "nobody", its been looking great lately in general, just watch the Mosley fight. He pretty much won that fight with his jab.

I'd say its top five, I wouldn't include Taylor just cause he's so inconsistent with it.

[The Rookie Fan]

Whether or not its the best of active fighters is certanly debatable and I'm not even gonna get into it.

But I have to say that is the very first time I see a fighter going down from a jab without it being a clear slip... That was awsome.

[Chino]

Whether or not its the best of active fighters is certanly debatable and I'm not even gonna get into it.

But I have to say that is the very first time I see a fighter going down from a jab without it being a clear slip... That was awsome.

Check out Julio Cesar Chavez vs Parisi. A nice straight jab to the chin its all it took for him to sit on the canvas.

[Althugz]

Whether or not its the best of active fighters is certanly debatable and I'm not even gonna get into it.

But I have to say that is the very first time I see a fighter going down from a jab without it being a clear slip... That was awsome.

Check out the 2nd knockdown in the Roy Jones vs Trinidad fight too. Roy knocked Tito down with a jab and Tito wasn't off balance. Crazy when you can knock someone down with a jab, thats power!