Hey  G.  Everybody is chatting about the Cotto vs. Margarito fight, so I might as well jump into it as well.  I am picking Cotto in the fight Saturday.  Margarito is one tough SOB, but he is way too easy to hit - Cotto's sharp punching will cause serious problems to Margarito in the first half of the fight.  G, Margarito has an iron chin, but I do not believe Margarito handles punches to the body well.  In Margarito's past fights, I've seen Margarito quietly stay at bay on the outside when a fighter occasionally goes to his body.  Cotto is a wrecking ball of a body puncher, and I believe Cotto's early body punching in rounds 1-5 will take a lot of steam out of Margarito - thereby diminishing his usual late surges in rounds 6-12.   G, when he uses it, Cotto has a quick, heavy jab as well.  Margarito is usually off balanced at times (especially on front foot) when a fighter gives him movement; this may cause Margarito to slam directly into Cotto's heavy jabs throughout the fight.   Last, look for Cotto to use more uppercuts in this fight because Margarito tends to bend over off balanced when he is trying to close the distance rather than come behind his rarely used jab.  Cotto will win this fight Saturday because Margarito is an easy target for Cotto's versatile, accurate offense.  Margarito's lack of defensive balance will finally catch up with him Saturday night.  Cotto by UD or stoppage between rounds 8-10.  Thanks G

 

Joemac: I noticed that you listed all of Cotto’s positives as if Margarito doesn’t have any.  Now for any good debate you have to counter the points that were made.  You said Margarito is easy to hit, I agree, but not as easy as it is to hit Cotto, especially with a jab, which is like a magnet that is drawn to his face(but they stop throwing it).  If you notice Margarito’s fight with Paul Williams, who throws a million punches in his sleep.  Margarito actually blocked a lot of those punches you will see that he slaps punches down.  You stated Margarito has an Iron Chin without stating Cotto DOESN’T  have one.  We have seen him hurt at 140 by Torres and Chop Chop  and at 147 I truly believe Zab  could have made it an early night for him if he would have went after him when he hurt him like three times. You said Cotto is a wicked body puncher, Ask Kermit Cintron if Margarito is a great body puncher.  Also please tell me what fight Margarito has ever stayed outside quietly.  He is always throwing punches, even when he is on the stool between rounds, as far as movement is concerned, this doesn’t apply here, they will be right in front of each other until one of the decide to back up, and after seeing Cotto back pedal on Mosley, my mortgage and kids college fund will be that Cotto does it again.  Cotto is the better boxer but this will be the first time that someone will keep coming after him relentlessly and he wont be able to beat him off.  Magarito has learned his lesson about slow starts with consecutive knockout of Johnson and Cintron.

 

Hi Greg, just writing to respectully disagree with you on this upcoming bout. In the Cotto/Judah fight Cotto was the stronger guy and was able to bull Zab around the ring and do his thing. One thing I did notice was when Zab would go to Cotto's body Cotto was visibly affected by these shots. Cotto is a great body puncher but can also be hurt by them. This happened in the Quintana fight as well. He went to Cotto's body a few times and they got his attention. Margarito is a much better body puncher than Judah or Quintana. He commits to every body punch he throws. This is going to be a major factor in this fight. Cotto won't be able to take these shots all night long. As for Cotto's sharp punching, well Cintron is a big puncher and a sharp puncher in his own right and Margarito walked right through them. Cintron is also a big strong welterweight. It seems as if everybody is dismissing all of these pertinent facts and just going with Cotto in this one. Speed wise Cotto may or may not be a tad quicker than Margarito but I myself think it is more of a timing issue. Cotto has impeccable timing and this helps him when he's in against faster guys like Judah or Mosley. This will help even things out some against Margarito but in the end I think Margarito will wear Cotto down as he can take the shots but he can deliver them as well. I don't know if this makes the bag or not I just wanted to point out some things in regard to these two badasses finally getting in the ring together. Thanks and keep up the great work. -Joe in EL Paso , Texas . 

 

 

Joemac- Joe, I see we have more in common than just our names especially with you Zab Leon , I mean Judah assessment.  I totally agree with you about Margarito walking through Cintron punches and we know he can bomb.  The funny thing is I didn’t like Margarito at all because of all the PBF is scared of him stuff that fans were saying.  I knew PBF would embarrass him from a boxing standpoint.  However the rest of the comp out there is not PBF,  He earned my respect for fighting Paul Williams instead of Cotto to defend his belt even though it could have derailed this fight from ever happening.

 

Yo G its Bread again I shouldve asked b4 but I gotta know what u think of Oscar v Manny. I like Oscar big. I don't care what Freddie Roach says Manny is an all time great but Oscar aint shot he actually looked good to me against Forbes and he held his own against PBF. Oscar is a bizness man why not take a fight against the mexican assasin and oscar is the fav and manny is the #1 guy pound4pound. Oscar is a bigger version of Marquez with a better chin.

 

JoeMac- Bread, I know you go way back with G, but I am a firm believer in a good big man beats a good little man.  Look its crazy to me that Oscar has never been knocked out by middleweights and welterweights biggest punchers (not counting B-Hop’s body shot.) and Freddie claims he will get KOed by someone who was KOed himself by someone that weighed 112 pounds 9 years ago (1999 Manny Koed by Medgeon Singsurat in 3 rounds flyweight). Then you have someone from GBP claiming they are warning Oscar not to take the fight because this is “dangerous”.  Cmon what big fight that Oscar has taken wasn’t dangerous?????? Whitaker, Mosley, Trindad, Chavez just to name a few.  I mean that is the type of things you say to a fighter that has never lost and could jeopardize their legacy.  Well Oscar is no stranger to defeats and his legacy as hall of famer is a forgone conclusion.  So this smells of a hustle, this is a ridiculous money scam to get manny more money than he can get fighting anyone else.  People forget that he actually lost to Morales the first time they fought and Oscar is a better boxer than he ever could be with a lot more power.  This doesn’t even deserve breathe bread, and if Oscar is a business man, which he is then Manny would not be the best business decision.  Cotto would.

 

I just wanted to discuss a couple of things..first thing is the Lightweight division. Marquez Vs Casamayor??? Campbell Vs Guzman..? I believe Marquez and Campbell win... Marquez is fighter of beauty to watch. we know Casamayor strong..but he dont hit like Pacman and he not as aggressive as Pacman..So Marquez is ability dont get me wrong Casamayor no bum but Marquez is as Elite as they come and he wont get caught like the Aussie. Marquez by UD Campbell wins because He going to be to strong. Guzman untested had as little as two fight at 130 spend most of his career at 122. Campbell by KO probably in the late rounds. Pacman and Marquez III probably in Feb 09..Cant Wait..!!! second thing I wanted to talk about is Kelly Pavlik. Why move up in weight? you spend your whole career to be the middleweight champion and you going to move up after one defense? You dont need Hopkins . I am pretty sure you can find a light middleweight to move up or super middleweight to move down..Allan Green would..even if no network buy it..top rank putting chavez jr on PPV so Pavlik on independent PPV wont sell? Green would move down..You can probably get Manfredo to move down or why not call out De La Hoya.. De la hoya want to ended it with a bang..how about he tries to accomplished what Hopkins knock you for, in his attempt at the middleweight crown...Bottomline Pavlik dont move up. You going to get millions to defend your middleweight crown against the slightly better average Joe. Nobody knock Hopkins for cleaning out the middleweight division. Calzaghe spend 11 year at 168..stay at middleweight.!!! Oh Yeah to bad the whole Golden Boy Top Rank Business. But wait if Pavlik Fight Hopkins than there no accused for de la hoya not to fight cotto?? right? just a thought. Carlos from Queens .

 

 

Joemac- Carlos I agree with you on the Campbell $ Marquez separate matches though I am not a big fan of predicting “HOW” the fighter will win.  Look it is simply to me, middleweights should fight middleweights if there is a good opponent still there.  His name is Winky Wright.  I don’t know what else to say, what reason is there not to fight Winky period.

 

What’s up Greg, I know you feel that if Margarito wins against Cotto this weekend then it doesn’t give him the same opportunities Cotto will have if he wins. I feel the same but I think he might get a Zab Judah or Joshua Clottey fight to unify or a rematch with Paul Williams to also unify and those are big enough names to fast track him to the lucrative fights for big dollars. But I wouldn’t say its impossible because lately I have read this bullshit from the most lucrative fighter, Oscar Dela Hoya, that he is considering a fight against Sergio Mora, was Oscar just misquoted or did he really come out and say that shit? He flat out avoids the names of Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest but when some nobody beats Forrest he becomes an option like fans know who this fool is, how the hell am I going to convince anybody to watch this fight with me, they didn’t know who Steve Forbes and wasn’t interested, I thought I could have got them on board because Forbes was a former lightweight champion, only problem was they knew Oscar was a former middleweight champion, mismatch!!! My point is that if it worked for a no name who got lucky against a winded boxing genius then I’m sure it will work for Margarito who earnt name recognition as the guy who had an infatuation and stalked Money Mayweather. Greg, please get Bernard Hopkins on the phone, I want to know what he has in store for his next victim. Do you think Calslappy wants a rematch or something, I mean he avoided getting his beat down from RJ in September and looks to be waiting to see if Bernard will look beatable when dominating Pavlik first…………Brad, Australia

 

 

Joemac- Brad I have read your comments for years and its good to know that there are other boxing enthusiasts outside the US borders. With that being said Margarito will never be marketed by Top Rank the way Cotto has because even if he loses he is still Arums bread and Manny is the butter.  Throw Pavlik in there and he is still on the outside looking in.  Somebody has to be the draw of a fight and it is great when both are.  But Zab and Clottey will not fast track him to a lucrative payday because he would have cleaned out the division and he would have to move up to middleweight and fight who for a lot of money, his stable mate Kelly Pavlik and who do you think will get the lion share of that matchup.  Its all about marketability Brad so what worked for Oscar may not work for him.

 

G. Leon, peace to you bro, keep doin what u do.  I've been on Boxingtalk religiously for the past 2 or so years now and must congratulate you on all of your other business ventures taking off.  Sucks to see the whole ESPN situation n all, but you should already know to be careful on the shitty business side of the sport we love.  The politics is why my father never turned pro, warns me about it, and why a bunch of other cats around the way with a little bit of talent are frustrated to the point of letting it go. Onto some questions now...One, what the hell is goin on wit my dude Floyd?  I heard something about a scuffle and stitches and whatnot, but what exactly was it?  Edner Cherry and his team have already denied the rumored altercation between Cherry Bomb and Floyd.  But with the whispers in the air and the stitches, wonder what DID exactly happen.  TWO, WHERE THE HELL IS JAIDON CODRINGTON?!?!?!?!?  Man, I know he was in a brutal fight last time out and KO'd(by a fighter that a man of his skillset should NEVER lose to) but he's now been inactive for about 10 months and I haven't heard a word about him.  I was hurtin for him when he took that L, I always thought he was going to go on to bigger and better things and the Allan Green demolotion was just a case of butterflies for a big fight and getting caught cold.   Was really big on him, obviously something is amiss though...Would love to see him get back out there all the same.  Speaking of Allan Green, I have no doubt he's got big things coming his way.  Wanted badly to see him get the Pavlik fight, although I expected him to be KO'd.  Just for the opportunity, Green is another guy I like and have followed for a lil while now.  Another huge dissappointment to see him lose to Edison "Ricardo Mayorga" Miranda.  Even more dissappointed in him fight so scared and staring at his feet.  Yes, I KNOW he was sick and had surgery.  But I can't just rock with that excuse as the end all be all of why he fought that way, if he was healthy enough to make it through a whole training camp, all of the roadwork, calisthetics and sparring, and strong enough to LAST for the full 12 rounds, than he was strong enough to do more than he did.  Got a lotta talent, needs more of that I put my balls on Ebay and got no takers tho...Throw me in that mail bag tho, or get bak at me big dog, pleasure to finally put this out there and keep doin ur thing and make sure thats a little bit of everything....Just like Floyd shows us, hard work and dedication pays off big.... 

 

 

Joemac-Sorry bro only G can answer the PBF and Cherry so called beef.  I also thought Green could have fought harder but I would like to see him avenge his only loss to see if he still gets no takers on Ebay, In fact G maybe that should be Allan next mission to get him over the hump and banish his demons.

 

 

Thanks G for giving me a shot at the mailbag and I hope I impressed you enough to do it again one day.  I love this and to the mailbaggers, this is an opinion section and though we may never agree I at least hope you come away with another perspective of a fighters that I like but you don’t and vice versa.  Joemac from Dc           

M

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