I was at the Garden last night for Cotto v. Trout and let me just say that Trout earned my respect

I was there to route for Cotto, like the rest of the crowd (really energetic bunch of Newyoricans by the way, waving flags, playing small precussion instruments). Trout was really an unknown quantity, and easily brushed off the boos of the crowd, fought TOTALLY clean, fought smart. Remained really humble in the post fight interview, and gave his praise to Cotto and Jesus (I didn't care about the Jesus part, but it sure was a crowd pleaser).

I'll also say that all the "should Cotto retire?" talk is nonsense. It's easy to say now because we know nothing about Trout, but lets imagine the following scenario: say Trout takes his victory over Cotto and parlays into in a fight with Canelo Alvarez and wins that too. Maybe after that he fights Martirosyan. After that maybe he beefs up and fights Ward, and after that Mayweather is really the only good option. If two or three years from now Trout fights Mayweather and wins, no one will look back of Trout/Cotto as an embarrasment—they'll look back and say "Wow, can you believe Cotto lasted 12 rounds with Trout who was bigger and five years younger?" and they'll be right.

Now, maybe none of that happens, but the point is we wont know what this means until we know more about Trout.