(Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
In those fights the knock out victims went on to have even greater successes than before, and in some cases surpassed their victors in greatness. The fighters previously mentioned, that lost by sustained mauling as opposed to by one punch knockout, were never the same and all went downhill after their losses.
As a common factor, most never showed the same ability to take a punch that they had before having been mauled. A possible example in progress could be Juan Diaz. Although Diaz was not knocked out by Nate Campbell, he was thoroughly beaten to the head and beaten up in general for twelve rounds, and seemed on the verge of getting stopped several times during the fight.
Diaz's fighting heart allowed him to fight to the end, but in Diaz's very next fight he got knocked out for the first time against Juan Manuel Marquez, a smaller fighter coming up from the featherweight division.
Was Marquez just that good or is Diaz damaged goods?
We'll just have to wait and see.
THE PICK
Clottey is a fighter that does everything good and nothing great.
His greatest attributes are his stamina and chin. He is not the most powerful of punchers and, although punches respectably, has not knocked out foes that he should have in Zab Judah and Diego Corrales.
Cotto is the better schooled fighter with extensive amateur experience and also possesses similar speed to Clottey, but with greater power. If Cotto is hurt or stopped by the non-punching Clottey, his days at the top against opponents like Mosley, Berto, or even Pacquiao would appear to be numbered.
I pick a better skilled and rounded Cotto to defeat the iron-chinned Clottey by close decision.
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