How big is Cotto now?

Cotto is very big right now. It has been a week from his fight, I bet he is about 190 lbs now

 

well for that, you can whack 99% of the threads that appear here. A question was asked, and most people have the same answer - no, Cotto's popularity (be it in the mainstream, in Puerto Rico, and/or within the sport most likely won't match Trinidad's. Most people cite Tito's charisma and Cotto's introverted demeanor as the basis of their "argument." You're saying as much in your post.

It's a simple question that people are responding to. Fighters measure dicks all of the time in regards to such discussions. Yeah, it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things - but perhaps someone should go tell them that.

 

Easy Jake, I was adding my two cents, not taking a dump on the thread . If it came across as such, my bad...

 

Just shut up dude, you're ruining all threads. Jake had to do it for the good of fightbeat.

 

Oh...I thought you were asking about his actual size. I was going to respond that I haven't actually been to PR since the fight to see him. ::

He's big but still no where near Trinidad when Tito had just beaten Vargas and Joppy in quick succession.

 

cotto's already there. i know a lot of folks who dont really follow boxing, but follow cotto because he's puerto rican and he's good.

 

not at all, you're the one taking this personal for whatever reason. phonetap agrees, tito is a puerto rican star...it's unlikely cotto will match his popularity, phonetap agrees that tito has charm, charisma and popularity within boxing circles but that's not good enough for you. you want to act like felix trinidad is some sort of international star like david beckham (even his appeal is limited in the US) and that's far from reality. you believe tito vibes with audiences that don't speak english and phonetap doesn't see it the way you do...

 

There were more people at the sports bar watching Cotto fight the other day, then there were for any of Trinidad's fights since he moved to 154. Take from that what you wish.

 

Tito has two big advantages over Cotto:
1. He was before Cotto.
2. Don King

Cotto has some advantages over Tito:
1. HBO and not Showtime
2. He speaks English.
3. More likely to face big names. Tito never stepped up until tried to leave King to face Quartey. Cotto hasn't ducked anyone, I don't believe.

I suppose the Puerto Ricans are the ones who can tells us who is more popular in Puerto Rico and who has more rabid fans (and it looks like Tito wins this), but PPV and attendance numbers are likely to be a lot closer, and perhaps some day in Cotto's favor.

 

It's an easy question if we're comparing them at similar points in their career.

Felix Trinidad in 1996 is aged 23 and a pro for six years. 30-0
Defending his welterweight title vs. Ray Lovato, Fred Pendleton and Rodney Moore, on Showtime.

Miguel Cotto in 2007 is aged 27 and a pro for six years. 31-0
Defending his welterweight title vs. Zab Judah and Shane Mosley. On HBO PPV.

Clearly at the most similar period of their careers, Cotto is FAR advanced on where Trinidad was, in terms of opponents, purses, recognition and acheivements. Trinidad had youth on his side though and did his best work when he changed networks.

 

which is typical of phonetap....

 

This was the very point I made and NEVER said any more beyond that. WITHIN boxing circles in Puerto Rico and the U.S., as well as any particular audience that recognizes him, Tito vibes better with 'em better than most other fighters in the game today. I've witnessed it first hand and from afar. I base my opinion and the aforementioned statements on such experiences and feedback.

My entire argument was based on how they are perceived within boxing audiences, or basically among anyone who recognizes either one (Tito/Cotto). I wouldn't argue about ANY fighter stopping traffic in any setting other than boxing-related. Oscar is probably the closest thing boxing has to a worldwide star. But hey, he was the ONE guy from those Miller Lite Man Law spots who never uttered a word during any of the commercials.

Beyond boxing, no Tito is not an international star.

Within boxing circles, and as far as the PR and US media and sports fans are concerned, he's bigger now than I believe Cotto will ever be. It's not a slight at Cotto, and I believe he will be a superstar in his own right.

hopefully that helps clear up any confusion within my previous posts.

 

Tam: Looking only at 1996 skews what you're getting at; in 93 Tito destroyed Blocker and in 94 wasted Carr, Campas and Camacho. The Molsey win alone marks a slight edge in best opponent faced but Tito was pretty eveolved for a guy that young by 96 which was why he was fighting so hard to get real fights.

 

Look at their entire career up until that point if you wish, it remains the same. Trinidad wasn't headlining BIG HBO and PPV shows. His best opponents were guys like Carr, Campas and Camacho. Two prospects and a near shot fighter, without a significant win in years.

Like I said, Trinidad peaked a little later in his career and for all we know, Miguel might go the other way. But as of right now, Miguel has done the "bigger" things in the sport of boxing and experienced the bigger highs.

 

I can agree with that but I don't know that I would call Carr or Campas 'prospects'. They were both contenders by that point, Carr moreso.

 

It's possible to be both a prospect and a contender in my opinion. Carr was most definitely a contender, but one who also carried some pretty ugly baggage along with his prospect tag.

Carr had been suspect before the Trinidad loss and was similar afterwards.

Campas wasn't AS suspect, simply because he hadn't been halfway "exposed" like Carr had been.

 

Yeah, Carr-Bramble...uugh.

 

Yeah, there's that...and I was never impressed with his back and forth mess-fight with Coley either. Oba was gone, early on in that fight.

 

Yeah, but at least he won. The Bramble fight was national news bad.

 

Tito vs Carr was on a ppv, but it was back when not everyone could get ppvs and Showtime didn't always replay their shows. Looking on boxrec, I assume Chavez vs Lopez was the main event.

Tito vs Campas was on the Chavez vs Taylor 2 ppv undercard.

Tito vs Camacho was on the Chavez vs Randall 2 ppv undercard.

Part of this shows just how great Don King was back then. But it also shows how shitty tv was for boxing back then. These fights were not available to many fans.

But this last point may be telling: The Tito vs Roger Turner fight was after all of these fights. And Tito's fight was not even televised in full. Yes, the card was stacked (Don King rules), but imagine a Cotto fight not being televised in full. Impossible.

(If someone has the Turner fight in full, I'm probably wrong here, but I saw the ppv live and this was one of the rare showtime cards that did get a few fights televised the next week with the Tito fight missing time)