by Robert Jackson: Prior to announcing his May 5, 2012 dance partner as Miguel Cotto; Floyd Mayweather Jr had limited his selection of opponents to 3-men: Cotto, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao! With the $40M offer rejected by Team Pacquiao that left just 2, Cotto and Alvarez.
GoldenBoy who promotes Alvarez and work in a symbiotic relationship with Mayweather probably figured it too soon to match young Alvarez with the P4P King! GoldenBoy needs to keep the redheaded Mexican undefeated as long as possible to maximize his earning power and continue to mold him into boxing’s next big star.
So that left Miguel Cotto who refused Manny Pacquiao’s invitation to fight him at the147lb limit even though Pacquiao was able to fight Antonio Margarito above that limit. Cotto who’s free-agent status began at the beginning of 2012, resisted former promoter Bob Arum’s convincetations for ‘a few dollars more’ to shrink down to 147lbs and revenge his 2nd defeat as he had done his first.
Cotto was willing to do a 153lb catchweight! Manny Pacquiao wasn’t willing!
During all of the Cotto/Pacquiao goings on, Cotto announced to the media Floyd Mayweather Jr was willing to fight him at the 154lb limit without any catchweight stipulation. Also rumored were private negotiations going on between Mayweather’s handlers and Team Cotto. On Feb 1, 2012 after a meeting with NSAC officials to renew his boxing license Floyd Mayweather announced his choice to fight Miguel Cotto on May 5, 2012.
Does Cotto have a chance at defeating Mayweather?? Maybe a slim one and I make this argument because of his last fight avenging his loss to Antonio Margarito – specifically the latter rounds of that fight. As that fight wore on, even with a damged eye targeted by Cotto, one could see Margarito incrementally getting stronger and wearing Cotto down. Cotto was running out of gas and his punches no longer had the steam on them that they had in earlier rounds. This writer believes if the fight had gone into the 11th and 12th rounds, that fight would’ve ended as the first did with Margarito stopping Cotto.
Long gone is Cotto’s body brutal body punching that put Carlos Quintana down for the count. Cotto also needs to ‘set’ his feet to punch with power, this requires his opponents to be stationary in front of him. I’m not saying that Floyd will run from him, Floyd even standing toe-to-toe with Cotto will make his body and head unavialable to Cotto’s punching.
And Cotto’s improved jab?? Floyd will shell up, right forearm and elbow tucked into his ribs on the right side – right glove to his temple, left arm in front of his body parallel to the ground and he’ll catch Cotto’s jab in the palm of the right glove, then return fire with his own quicker jab. The left hook to the body that Cotto is known for will be caught by the right forearm or elbow, then Floyd will counter with a right uppercut, short right hook, or, his own left hook because Cotto tends to drop his right hand when he throws his left. If Miguel throws the right hand, Floyd will shoulder-roll it and counter with his own right-left hook combination.
To further frustrate Miguel Cotto, Mayweather will make him miss – at close range, and then counter him at will. To nullify Cotto’s punching power, Mayweather while standing right in front of Cotto will turn him in either direction to keep him from setting his feet. By the 7th or 8th round Mayweather will have made his case for Cotto retiring between rounds or the referee stopping the fight. This fight may go similar to the Gatti fight with Cotto being outclassed, Floyd won’t carry him because he has bigger fish to fry (Martinez) and this will be his tuneup, because this writer believes the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight will never be made! Does Miguel Cotto have a chance? In short…NO!