Las Vegas – After defeating aged veteran Ricardo Mayorga Saturday night, Miguel Cotto has secured opportunities of revenge against the only two men who have defeated.
Cotto’s promoter Bob Arum had made it loud and clear that is Cotto got past Mayorga, he would be in line for a rematches with Antonio Margarito this year, and Manny Pacquiao in 2012.
Cotto may have earned a technical 12th round knockout against Mayorga, but his performance was uninspired, exepected and showed evidence of the Puerto Rican’s inability to avoid punches – even from a rudimentary offensive fighter like Mayorga.
Another concern in speculating Cotto’s future performances, is his inability to carrry true punching power into the junior middleweight division. Cotto’s knock-out of Mayorga was due to an accumulation of punches, and potential hand injury which left Mayorga defenseless in the final round.
Though Margarito may not be a solid boxer, his monotone offensive rhythm crumbled Cotto in their first welterweight bout – one can only speculate what would happen at 154 pounds.
As for Pacquiao, once again, Cotto has not show the sort of improvement in regards to defense to make this writer believe he could handle the Filipino’s speedy offensive barrages.
But with a victory over Mayorga, Cotto has earned the right to prove me wrong.
