You HAVE to respect Clottey!!

[OumaFan]

Very good fighter

Very hard to like though IMO

[Julius Rain]

the 12 round low blow was too obvious for clottey to ignore and he had to acknowledge it. The ref decided not to deduct a point which is his call, but any fighter would had to take a sec off from that low blow. Clottey didn't get any real time off cause the ref figured the fight was almost over and it seem like he said you got this so suck it up. The last ref that said that got suspended right? well it was in the JMM/JACA fight, i think it was michael cole that said jmm was winning. It also seemed like the ref told Clottey he was winning so lets get the fight ended. Clottey seem to agree and continued on for a minute left.

The fight was a close one but from the look of things, Cotto looked beaten up worst.

[Pavlik]

Tough as a tank and good speed. A threat for everyone even the Big CHEAT'O did not hurt or drop this guy. The constant whining and OVER ACTING was not classy though

[Kev]

I respect Clottey a lot more as a boxer after last night but my previous opinion of him as a front runner and someone who would rather lose due to an excuse than give his all has only been reinforced.

Prior to this fight I had always regarded him as a Sakio Bika type, a tough very strong guy who would give anybody a workout but was unlikely to trouble the world's best. My opinion on that has changed, his boxing ability and technical skills are far greater than Sakio Bika's level, he is a genuine world class performer imo.

However he does not have a champion's heart. We saw against Margarito how when the action started going against him he chose to shut down and blame his hands rather than fight and risk gettting stopped and again yesterday his rather pathetic and imo cowardly antics to get points deducted, first from the push and then in the last round from the punch to the back of the head meant he will never be one of my favourites.


Cotto has a champions heart, absolutely no question, badly cut due to a headbutt, he made no fuss at all, never once complained to the referee or his corner and never looked for a way out or help from the ref.

When it came down to who wanted it more, and who was prepared to dig the deepest Clottey preferred to look for point deductions and excusese rather than grab the fight with his own hands.

Had Cotto been in Clottey's position he would have won absolutely no question. He would have made no fuss about a fake knee injury, he wouldn't have sought to claim points via fouls and no way would he have let Clottey off the hook over those final rounds.

With the controversey surrounding the hand wraps in the Margarito fight Cotto in my mind has yet to be truly beaten. He has shown the heart of a champion and to me absolutely deserved the victory last night.

Clottey for all his talent and toughness simply doesn't get going when the going the gets tough, and because of that he will never be great.

[OumaFan]

Bilbo has been spot on

If I could give him rep I would but I would have to rep two or three other people and it just seems to be asking a bit too much.

[Lance Uppercut]

Or you can criticize him:

That head butt in the third look somewhat intentional, and he has a history of head butting.

He behaved like a weasel at times during the fight. Like in the later rounds were he was flopping, after an accidental punch to the back of the head, in a cheap attempt to get Cotto penalized. He then did the same thing a couple of minutes later with a low blow. This was made worse by the fact that Cotto, behaved like a true fighter, never once complaining about the horrible cut he had to fight with.

And finally, and most obviously, he stopped punching in the last couple of rounds.

[Diane]

I like Clottey, I am a fan of Clottey, and last nights fight was one in which I hated seeing either having to take a loss, but actually, I lost some respect for Clottey last night with all his drama queen bullshit.

[XaduBoxer]

I have respect for Clottey but not that high... He's a good fighter and a warrior... Also for Cotto, a good boxer and a warrior... But both has tendencies to get dirty when the going gets rough... Clottey with his headbutting and acting and Cotto with his famous low blows and now added with wrestling... Fighters should not engage in dirty tactics and should do the mauling with their fists in legal way...