After weeks of speculation, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced yesteray that his May 5th opponent would be three-division champion Miguel Cotto. Although Cotto may be the best economic choice for Mayweather outside of Manny Pacquiao, is this really a competitive fight? Based simply on the fact that Mayweather chose to fight Cotto, I’d have to say no.
Mayweather-Cotto was a fight in heavy demand back in 2008. Heading into his July 2008 fight against Antonio Margarito, Cotto was 32-0, had recently beaten an undefeated Carlos Quintana, a somewhat competitive Zab Judah, and a very game Shane Mosley. With Mayweather’s 2008 absence from the ring, Cotto was viewed as the best welterweight in the world. Many boxing fans were wondering if Miguel would give Floyd a run for his money. Needless to say, the fight never happened.
Here we are four years later. The fight has been made, and both fighters will square off in three months. The question I would like to leave readers with is: did Miguel Cotto ever have a shot at halting Mayweather’s undefeated streak? Especially now, at this point in his career, after suffering two devastating knockout losses (Pacquiao, Margarito)?
Some may say Cotto is stronger now that he has been campaigning at junior middleweight for his last three fights. I would beg to differ. Cotto is a relatively small junior middleweight. He stands at 5’7″ and has a 67″ reach. His opposition at junior middleweight has been carefully selected. Yuri Foreman, who had zero knockout power, didn’t have much of a chance to begin with, his style was a perfect match for Cotto. The half-dead, human punching bag Ricardo Mayorga was way past his prime, buthe was still a little too competitive with Cotto for my liking. The one-eyed Margarito had the odds stacked against him going into the Cotto fight and was never given much of a chance. With that all being said, it is clear to see that Cotto’s resume at 154 pounds is scarce.
Cotto was once a brutal, pressure fighter who threw a left hook to the body like nobody else. He has slowly gone away from that and has adopted more of a boxing style over the past few years. When Cotto steps into the ring May 5th he has two options: he could try and outbox Mayweather, which is ludicrous. Or he could look to knock him out. Neither of the two seem possible at this point in Cotto’s career. Mayweather’s uppercut, which he loves to shoot out of his shoulder roll stance will be his main weapon in this fight, given that Cotto is extremely susceptible to uppercuts.
In closing, I am sure some fans are wondering if this fight will be competitive. Sure it will, for the first two rounds or so. No, Cotto doesn’t stand a chance to take Mayweather’s 0 away, unless something miraculous happens, which does occur every now and then in this sport. Yet the small chance that Cotto can put forth those miraculous sequence of events will have fans tuning in all over the world on May 5th.
