On May 5th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this author?s #1 pound for pound boxer Floyd ?Money? Mayweather (42-0 with 26 KO?s) will look to add yet another belt to his impressive collection as he takes on WBA Super Welterweight Champion and fellow future Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto (37-2 with 30 KO?s). Tickets went on sale today and this fight will no doubt be sold out in a short period of time. Love him or hate him, the polarizing Mayweather has an aura about him and the ability to put butts in seats never quite seen before in the history of the sport for a boxer with such an unexciting pugilistic style. He does so based on a combination of his bad boy persona and flashiness, along with his amazing skills.
Conversely, Cotto puts butts in seats based exclusively on his exciting style of fighting and unrelated to his personality which is pleasant, but extremely boring when juxtaposed to Floyd?s. Let?s be honest, an HBO 24/7 not involving a Mayweather is just not the same. This fight will carry a tremendous amount of hype leading up to the night of the fight. Two icons will face each other, one from the island of Puerto Rico and the other proudly representing Grand Rapids Michigan in the United States. Given the fact that Cotto has rebounded quite nicely from his stoppage losses to Margarito and Pacquiao, winning another world title in the process and Mayweather having looked his usual stellar self in his last couple fights, this will undoubtedly be a huge PPV success.
The big question is: Will this fight live up to the hype? This author believes that due to the fact that Cotto is never in a bad fight and Mayweather is a lot more stationary nowadays, this fight could be a surprisingly entertaining one. Don?t get me wrong, by no means am I implying that we are going to see another Gatti/Ward or Morales/Barrera fight, but relative to some of Mayweather?s past big fights such as the one with De La Hoya, this one will be more appealing to the casual boxing fan. I envision this fight being fought mostly in the center of the ring, with occasional moments against the ropes and/or in the corner. Speaking of the corner, does Roger Mayweather ever have any other advice to give his nephew other than ?keep doing what you doing we gonna get the motherfu*ker??
The fact that Floyd will be serving at least a two month jail sentence shortly after this fight and possibly might not fight again until next year could also help motivate him to put on an exciting fight for the fans. That coupled with the fact that Cotto is far from shot and although not as great as Floyd, is a great fighter in his own right will make this a lot more competitive than the Ortiz fight. Cotto is still fairly young and is not washed up by any means. Miguel will train for this fight like he has never trained before. He will be hungrier than a contestant on Survivor. He is an excellent fighter and if you exclude the Margarito fight which most view as an unfair one, he has only lost one fight and that was to an all time great (Pacquiao) who completely overwhelmed him with insane speed, quickness, combinations and angles from a southpaw stance. Floyd is a completely different kind of fighter than Manny.
Could Floyd figure out Cotto after 3 or 4 rounds and pick him apart and stop him late or cruise to a decision? Sure, that could very well happen. Could Cotto land a couple good shots and make things very interesting? Absolutely. This will be an intriguing fight for as long as it lasts. Having stated that, I would not bet a dime against Floyd. He?s just too damn good.
