Will Cotto ever be the same after tonight?

[scotty417]

I really think psychologically this is devastating. Not only to lose, but basically to be beaten down into submission. Margarito made Cotto quit. I called it before the 11th. Cotto looked done. He wanted out of that fight. It was a beating after the 6th.

I take exception to the way "armchair fans" use the word "quit" so freely. The "no mas" by Duran in his second fight against Sugar Ray Leonard was quitting. Quitting on your stool when you appear to still have an outside chance of winning... that's quitting. The guys that used to take dives versus Mike Tyson... that's quitting. Cotto didn't quit. He was beaten into a bloody mess... kept fighting... and his corner was visibly ready to throw in the towel to avoid some serious injury. None of that constitutes quitting.

And the beating came gradually after the 7th or 8th round. It was competitive for most of the fight. It wasn't a one-sided beating all of a sudden after the 6th round.

Certainly not! I still had Cotto ahead going into the 11th.

In the 7th round, I think it was, Margarito hit Cotto with a series of triple left uppercuts that changed the complexion of the fight. In the 8th and 9th rounds, he attempted to use the left uppercut, but Cotto still had some fight in him. Margarito started softening him up in those rounds.

In the 10th round, he started using the left uppercut near the end and got Cotto into trouble again. That's when the HBO shill, Jim Lampley, pointed out that Margarito had gone two rounds without any damaging blows.

In the 11th round, Margarito started opening up and using the left uppercut off combinations. That's when Cotto quit. He knew what was coming. He didn't go out like a champion and get knocked off his feet. He became afraid of the punishment that the left uppercut was doing to his nose, making him choke on his own blood. After taking the knee, Cotto went down again without being hit, because he was afraid of what was about to happen.

Roberto Duran pulled his "no mas," because he was unable to hit Sugar Ray Leonard, who was making him look foolish by winding up with a right handed bolo punch and then hitting him with the left hand. Duran quit out of frustration and humiliation as if to say, "I'm not going to play your game," and then afterwards realizing the ramifications of his actions.

In a sad moment, Alexis Arguello sat in the corner, on the ground, and allowed himself to be counted out, shaking his head. He knew that he couldn't beat Aaron Pryor and the outcome was going to be the same. With the heart of a champion, he wasn't afraid of getting hurt, but he was acknowledging that no matter what he could do, he wasn't going to change the outcome of this fight.