Cotto down but not out

The stars were all lined up for Miguel Angel Cotto. Beat Antonio Margarito and earn a megabucks battle with Oscar De La Hoya.

Considering Margarito had lost to Paul Williams and Cotto had spent the past two years building the reputation as the next big thing and it didn't seem too tall of an order.

Except Margarito was too tall and took it to Cotto from the opening bell until Cotto's trainers called things off in the 11th.

The loss was quite a tumble for Cotto but, thanks to an already long history as an alphabet soup champion, he remains in the top 100.

Margarito, thanks to some losses back in his teens before he knew what he was doing, still is still a long ways from the top 100 -- No. 161 -- but he has a chance to unify the welterweight title and if he can do that he'll zoom up the charts quickly.

As for Cotto, the future is unclear. He didn't really hurt Margarito so moving up in weight isn't really in the cards. He didn't do well enough to demand a rematch. Perhaps De La Hoya will fight him anyway, seeing an easier target than Margarito. In any case, he has to go back and prove himself again before he is considered an elite fighter.

Here's the new No. 60 to No. 100 in my system.

60. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.298
61. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 49.188
62. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 49.180
63. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 49.095
64. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 49.003
65. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 48.180
66. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 48.120
67. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.115
68. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 47.965
69. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 47.957
70. Jackie "Kid" Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 47.913
71. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 47.728
72. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 47.705
73. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 47.555
74. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 47.483
75. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 47.446
76. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.282
77. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.103
78. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.096
79. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.000
80. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 46.836
81. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.653
82. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 46.650
83. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 46.639
84. Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, 1990-08, Thailand, 46.551
85. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 46.546
86. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 46.502
87. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 46.370
88. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.315
89. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 46.195
90. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 46.156
91. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 46.003
92. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 45.983
93. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 45.975
94. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 45.857
95. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 45.701
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 45.627
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 45.531
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 45.531
99. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 45.464
100. Miguel Canto, 1969-82, Mexico, 45.406