James Kirkland vs. Miguel Cotto who wins ?

[Hulk]

This would be a very interesting matchup, granted Kirkland gets past Molina first of course.

Would Cotto weather the storm and then use his superior boxing skills to dominate Kirkland ?

Or would James Kirkland overwhelm Cotto with youth, rage and aggression ?

[ElTerribleMorales]

This would be a very interesting matchup, granted Kirkland gets past Molina first of course.

Would Cotto weather the storm and then use his superior boxing skills to dominate Kirkland ?

Or would James Kirkland overwhelm Cotto with youth, rage and aggression ?

IMO it's a bit of a 50/50 fight, Kirkland is a hot and cold type fighter, he looked awesome against Angulo but well Angulo is tailor made for him, a come forward fighter who doesn't have a wide variety of punches, and we saw that Kirkland's chin is still vulnerable but nowhere near as bad as it looked against Ishida, Angulo blew his load (similar to Mike Jones in his first fight with Karass) and well didn't have a plan B, Kirkland has the strength and physicality to win against Cotto, but will he be able to deal with his movement, his jab, counterpunching, will he be able to cut off the ring effectively against a guy who's a lot smarter in the ring than Angulo, but on the flipside can Cotto deal with Kirkland's power, his work rate, etc., should be a good fight

[FinitoElDinamita]

The Molina fight should kind of show us how Kirkland will deal with someone like Cotto. I think Kirkland is too much of a beast of the current Cotto tbh..

Kirkland can apply the simliar pressure that Margarito did, except he's still fresh with two healthy eyes, plus he hits harder, punch for punch..

Cotto would box well in spots but eventually fold under the pressure.

Kirkland TKO8 Cotto

[ReBeL BLacK]

I think Cotto would wins if he keeps the fight at a boxing pace. In a lot of ways Kirkland fights like Margarito, a lot of pressure, unbelievable cardio and outstanding heart but Cotto wins this fight from sheer ring generalship(like he did against Antonio) keeping off the ropes and keeping it a boxing match. Cotto certainly comes out the victor i think but you never know, Cotto, in his mid 30's is getting slightly weathered and the furious regime of Anne Wolf may be Kirkland's saving grace but still you never know look at Khan/ Peterson

[ElTerribleMorales]

I think Cotto would wins if he keeps the fight at a boxing pace. In a lot of ways Kirkland fights like Margarito, a lot of pressure, unbelievable cardio and outstanding heart but Cotto wins this fight from sheer ring generalship(like he did against Antonio) keeping off the ropes and keeping it a boxing match. Cotto certainly comes out the victor i think but you never know, Cotto, in his mid 30's is getting slightly weathered and the furious regime of Anne Wolf may be Kirkland's saving grace but still you never know look at Khan/ Peterson

I get what you mean but Cotto is 31 lol

[Spicoli]

I think Cotto would wins if he keeps the fight at a boxing pace. In a lot of ways Kirkland fights like Margarito, a lot of pressure, unbelievable cardio and outstanding heart but Cotto wins this fight from sheer ring generalship(like he did against Antonio) keeping off the ropes and keeping it a boxing match. Cotto certainly comes out the victor i think but you never know, Cotto, in his mid 30's is getting slightly weathered and the furious regime of Anne Wolf may be Kirkland's saving grace but still you never know look at Khan/ Peterson

Gotta agree. Cotto has some wear and tear. But I think he has the arsenal off jab and has been in enough fire fights to deal mentally and physically with a face first Kirkland.

Kirkland is still Kirkland and still gets and will get caught when he rushes in by straight punches and hard jabs. He is working on slipping but his aggresion and being so tense comes back to bite him. You could time Angulos punches with a sun dial and he knows very little about boxing off the back foot really. I think Cotto weathers the initial storm and times the hell out of Kirkland for a tko.

[Hulk]

I think Cotto would wins if he keeps the fight at a boxing pace. In a lot of ways Kirkland fights like Margarito, a lot of pressure, unbelievable cardio and outstanding heart but Cotto wins this fight from sheer ring generalship(like he did against Antonio) keeping off the ropes and keeping it a boxing match. Cotto certainly comes out the victor i think but you never know, Cotto, in his mid 30's is getting slightly weathered and the furious regime of Anne Wolf may be Kirkland's saving grace but still you never know look at Khan/ Peterson

Gotta agree. Cotto has some wear and tear. But I think he has the arsenal off jab and has been in enough fire fights to deal mentally and physically with a face first Kirkland.

Kirkland is still Kirkland and still gets and will get caught when he rushes in by straight punches and hard jabs. He is working on slipping but his aggresion and being so tense comes back to bite him. You could time Angulos punches with a sun dial and he knows very little about boxing off the back foot really. I think Cotto weathers the initial storm and times the hell out of Kirkland for a tko.

Could you envision a Cotto vs. Ricardo Torres scenario ?

I could, except with an aging Cotto not quite having enough to pull it out against the young lion.

[CFH]

The Molina fight should kind of show us how Kirkland will deal with someone like Cotto. I think Kirkland is too much of a beast of the current Cotto tbh..

Kirkland can apply the simliar pressure that Margarito did, except he's still fresh with two healthy eyes, plus he hits harder, punch for punch..

Cotto would box well in spots but eventually fold under the pressure.

Kirkland TKO8 Cotto

Kirkland can't take a punch like Margarito can though and that is what would make this fight interesting.

[shza]

The Molina fight should kind of show us how Kirkland will deal with someone like Cotto. I think Kirkland is too much of a beast of the current Cotto tbh..

Kirkland can apply the simliar pressure that Margarito did, except he's still fresh with two healthy eyes, plus he hits harder, punch for punch..

Cotto would box well in spots but eventually fold under the pressure.

Kirkland TKO8 Cotto

Kirkland can't take a punch like Margarito can though and that is what would make this fight interesting.

That and the fact that he hits about 5x as hard as Margarito ever did.

But I still think Cotto wins it. His boxing and footwork looked great against Margarito. Kirkland is still extremely raw.

[Onix]

As a latin poster on this forum I would love to cheer for Cotto to win, he is a thinking mans fighter and is a exciting to watch....as a member of this forum I'd love to see this fight and see Cotto get F'd up.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

The old skool Cotto would get his head blown off but this new Cotto would out jog Kirkland and land some flurries here and there. But I would love to see Kirkland catch up to him and just end Cotto's career already!

Can't explain it but i have a real irrational hate for that man now...

[Gocougars3]

Cotto has gone from a banger to a slick boxer with very good footwork and tricky combinations. I believe he beats Kirkland.

Don't really understand how you could hate him.

[fightscorecollector]

Cotto by KO after 8 rounds , i just think Cotto is still too good for Kirkland even though for 5-6 rounds it would be a great fight.

Cotto's experience would tell as he would pace himself better and has the better arsenal of punches

Maybe in a year or 2 its a different result as Cotto nears retirement

[El Kabong]

Cotto wins EASY...if the glacially slow Alfredo Angulo can drop Kirkland (and I don't think Angulo even hits all that hard to begin with) then a faster, slicker, more powerful puncher like Cotto would wreck Kirkland.

Kirkland is a beast, don't get me wrong, but he's to wild in his attack which leaves him open to counters. Cotto meanwhile has never been blasted out with 1 shot, it takes a measured and sustained attack over a number of rounds to beat him.


I think Cotto-Martinez is MUCH closer

[Rantcatrat]

This is never going to happen unless Kirkland transforms into a PPV fighter because Cotto doesn't fight these types of fights anymore unless its for big, big money. That doesn't even take into consideration the GB/TR beef, which itself could prevent this fight from ever happening.

Arum has done a great job with Cotto in recent times and Top Rank isn't just going to fall off all of a sudden. Cotto made large money against Pacquiao even though he lost. Then Cotto fought Yuri Foreman in Yankee Stadium as his foray into the junior middleweight division. Foreman is a competent boxer but not the type to beat Cotto so not much risk. A Jew fighting a Puerto Rican at Yankee stadium - how wouldn't it sell? Cotto made big money there. Then Cotto fights Ricardo Mayorga, a fight that is low risk given Mayorga's current state, but Mayorga is still a big name and Cotto makes money on that. Finally, Cotto faces Margarito at MSG in a remath of one of the top fights of recent memory. Just a wonderful job guiding him.

What we haven't seen is Cotto facing any top ten junior middleweight other than Foreman who was a good match-up for Cotto and regardless was a good money-making fight. I'm not taking anything away from his performance against Margacheato, but Margacheato wasn't even ranked in the top ten at junior middleweight when they clashed.

Frankly, the fight that makes the most sense in the near future, as another poster mentioned, is against Saul Alvarez because it could be a PPV and make Cotto a boatload of cash. However, that fight won't likely happen b/c of the GB/TR beef.