John Santore
2006-06-11 04:57:57 UTC
As you guys probably know by now, Cotto wins by UD.
It was a lot closer than you might have expected, though.
Judges had it 115-112, and 116-111 (x2) for Cotto.
I'm not going to do a round by round analysis, because I'm not really
good at that sort of thing, but I'll try and give a summary.
First off, this was a very entertaining fight. It was close, and
Malignaggi in particular showed a lot of heart and although he was
losing, kept it competitive.
Early in round one, they had a clash of heads with a bad cut on the left
eye of Malignaggi. This seemed to take him off his game plan and he
actually started trading with Cotto. He didn't have much pop, but he was
pretty game, and might have even won this round.
In the second round, the eye was still causing him problems, and Cotto
caught Paulie with a solid shot and put him down. He was up pretty
quick, but he was stunned. Managed to survive the round. By around the
4th round, his corner had the cut largely under control so it became less
of a factor.
I had Cotto ahead on the next few rounds as well, basically because he
had more effective punches, but Malignaggi was more active and hitting
more.
In the middle rounds, Cotto seemed a bit tired and Malignaggi was able to
win some rounds with more punches, and more accurate punches. He took
some pretty solid left hooks by Cotto and Paulie's face was a mess. His
cheek was very swollen and in general he was pretty busted up.
Cotto came on strong in the championship rounds, and controlled the
action by mixing good body shots in with his hard left hook to the head.
Malignaggi was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth.
My score was 115-112, with Malignaggi winning his rounds largely by being
more active and accurate. When Cotto turned up his activity, though, his
punches were much more effective.
Final thoughts... wildly entertaining fight, with the main drama being
how well would Malignaggi survive the bad cut, the knockdown, and
eventually a pretty swollen and bloody face. While he didn't win, it was
a great gutsy performance by him, and I think his stock will rise
significantly, even in the loss. As for Cotto, he did what he had to do
to win, and did so pretty convincingly, but he seemed to be more
defensive in the middle rounds when he didn't need to be, and probably
could have closed the show if he was more aggressive. He was too busy
looking for that one shot.
Both guys were classy in their post fight comments, also, which is
something I personally like to see, especially in light of all of
Paulie's prefight trash talk.
It was a lot closer than you might have expected, though.
Judges had it 115-112, and 116-111 (x2) for Cotto.
I'm not going to do a round by round analysis, because I'm not really
good at that sort of thing, but I'll try and give a summary.
First off, this was a very entertaining fight. It was close, and
Malignaggi in particular showed a lot of heart and although he was
losing, kept it competitive.
Early in round one, they had a clash of heads with a bad cut on the left
eye of Malignaggi. This seemed to take him off his game plan and he
actually started trading with Cotto. He didn't have much pop, but he was
pretty game, and might have even won this round.
In the second round, the eye was still causing him problems, and Cotto
caught Paulie with a solid shot and put him down. He was up pretty
quick, but he was stunned. Managed to survive the round. By around the
4th round, his corner had the cut largely under control so it became less
of a factor.
I had Cotto ahead on the next few rounds as well, basically because he
had more effective punches, but Malignaggi was more active and hitting
more.
In the middle rounds, Cotto seemed a bit tired and Malignaggi was able to
win some rounds with more punches, and more accurate punches. He took
some pretty solid left hooks by Cotto and Paulie's face was a mess. His
cheek was very swollen and in general he was pretty busted up.
Cotto came on strong in the championship rounds, and controlled the
action by mixing good body shots in with his hard left hook to the head.
Malignaggi was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth.
My score was 115-112, with Malignaggi winning his rounds largely by being
more active and accurate. When Cotto turned up his activity, though, his
punches were much more effective.
Final thoughts... wildly entertaining fight, with the main drama being
how well would Malignaggi survive the bad cut, the knockdown, and
eventually a pretty swollen and bloody face. While he didn't win, it was
a great gutsy performance by him, and I think his stock will rise
significantly, even in the loss. As for Cotto, he did what he had to do
to win, and did so pretty convincingly, but he seemed to be more
defensive in the middle rounds when he didn't need to be, and probably
could have closed the show if he was more aggressive. He was too busy
looking for that one shot.
Both guys were classy in their post fight comments, also, which is
something I personally like to see, especially in light of all of
Paulie's prefight trash talk.