On Saturday night, May 05, 2012 Live from the MGM Grand in Las, Vegas, the very tough Miguel Cotto (37-2) will step up and challenge the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0). Now I understand that this is not the huge mega fight that we all had hoped for, but given the date and the big names showcasing this fight card, we may be in for a big surprise. In one corner you have Miguel Cotto a puncher/boxer that never seems to be in a boring fight. And in the other corner you have Floyd Mayweather Jr. a master boxer who along with his cocky audacious persona is the fighter that many love but most fans hate. Because of that love/hate relationship that Floyd seems to have with fight fans, you have a lot of fans tuning in to watch the master at work, and you also have a legion of the sports followers tuning in with the hopes of finally seeing Floyd lose his first fight. Then when you factor in the fact that this fight will be taking place on Cinco De Mayo, it almost instantly becomes a can?t miss event.
Two big popular fighters fighting on the biggest boxing weekend is the perfect combination and a recipe of having a very successful show. Question now becomes, will the fight itself match the knockout that it?s sure to be at the box office? Boxing has been described by few as being the theatre of the unexpected and soon we shall all know if Mayweather/Cotto goes down as another boxing classic that happens to take place on Cinco De Mayo. Or maybe the fight itself will kill on the pay per view grid but will fail to provide thrills inside the squared circle. Who knows, maybe Mayweather versus Cotto will just maybe turn out to be another classic fight that happens to live up to all the hype. Below, I list the top 5 Cinco De Mayo weekend fights in recent memory, how will Mayweather/Cotto compare to the fights below that many of us are still talking about? Very soon we will all know the answer to that.
May 06, 2006- Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ricardo Mayorga- During the build up for this fight, the very loud Ricardo Mayorga fired rude and nasty comments towards De La Hoya. De La Hoya as usual kept his cool but one could easily tell that he was saving all of his aggression for fight night. And that is exactly what Oscar did, Mayorga had added fuel to the fire and the rest was left to De La Hoya as he fired shots and landed at will and ended up knocking out Mayorga in the 6th round. The win for De La Hoya was extra special because the last fight that De La Hoya had been in prior to the Mayorga fight had been 20 months previously. Not only did De La Hoya prove that he still had it in the ring, but he also proved to be the cash cow as De La Hoya/Mayorga went on to sell over 900,000 pay per view buys.
May 08, 2004- Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez- This clash between Pacquiao and Marquez was the first installment of their epic trilogy. Pacquiao was just coming off of a dominating win over Marco Antonio Barrera. Marquez then stepped up and said that he wanted a piece of the Pac-Man. Ask and you shall receive, Pacquiao came right after Marquez like a typhoon and dropped Marquez three times to open the first round. From that point on, Marquez quickly realized that his opponent was indeed for real. Marquez calmly collected himself and began to counter Pacquiao and made a bloody fight out of it. Both fighters had to dig deep in order to see the last and final round. The fight was called a draw.
May 02, 2009- Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton- Prior to this fight happening, many felt that Hatton was going to be too much for Pacquiao. Many believed this due to the fact that since Floyd Mayweather Jr. had knocked out Hatton at 147 pounds, a weight class that Hatton was fighting at for the first time, that Hatton now fighting Pacquiao at the 140 pound weight class where Hatton dominated would now be at his very best. And on top of that, Hatton was now being trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. so more and more fight fans began to favor Hatton over Pacquiao. But then the bell rang and the moment of truth was now upon us. Pacquiao came out like a monster and hit Hatton at will with his blazing speed, next thing you know, Hatton was then dropped then dropped again seconds later. Hatton went on to survive the first round, but his demise would come a lot sooner than expected. Round 2 begins and Hatton tries to use a jab to keep Pacquiao away, no such luck, Pacquiao continues the assault then catches Hatton and puts him to sleep with a crushing right hand. Hatton is laid out like carpet and just like that the fight is over. Pacquiao wins by 2nd round knockout, Hatton never fights again and later retires from the sport. The fight sells over 1 million pay per view buys.
May 07, 2005- Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo- This war between these two warriors was without a doubt an unforgettable masterpiece. It was a battle that went back and forth, and was the ultimate gut check fight for both fighters. Corrales and Castillo both dared to be great so they went for it all and punched each other with bombs from very close range. This was a telephone booth type of fight from start to finish. Simply one of the most grueling fights ever seen. Corrales found himself down in the tenth round but then rose to his feet to stop Castillo by technical knockout in the very same round. Many fight fans consider Corrales/Castillo 1 as the greatest fight of all time.
May 05, 2007- Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Everybody in the entire world wanted to see this fight happen, so when it finally did happen, the 2.6 million pay per view buys came to no surprise. Till this day this fight remains as the highest- grossing fight in the history of the sport. In the first half of the fight, De La Hoya almost made it look easy as he jabbed his way in. But during the second half of the fight, Mayweather adjusted as Oscar began to fade and Mayweather was then able to land the cleaner shots. The press tour for this fight was massive as thousands of people lined up in never ending lines to try and get a glimpse of their favorite fighter. If that wasn?t enough, during the build up, Floyd Mayweather gave birth to HBO?s 24/7 series that allowed the fans to get a closer look at the fighters fight camps as they both prepared for the fight of their lives. I view this fight as the passing of the torch, from the reigning pay per view king to the new pay per view king.
