By Dave Lahr: Emanuel Steward seems to be in 7th heaven now that he’s been training former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) for his big fight tonight against WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) at the Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, New York. Steward has become accustomed to fighting bigger guys like IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and middleweight contender Andy Lee, among many others, in recent years and hasn’t had any short fighters like Cotto.

Few people would call Cotto a fast fighter. However, Steward is really impressed with Cotto’s hand speed while in training for the Foreman fight, saying in an article at Sportsillustrated.cnn.com, “Miguel is a lot faster than a lot of people will expect from this fight. We know that Yuri is fast but Miguel is going to surprise a lot of people with his speed.” Let’s hope so for Cotto and Steward’s sake, because Cotto has been taking some major beatings recently where he hasn’t looked all that quick. Well, he has been quick in one department – quick to take punishment.

Cotto has been like a walking punching bag with arms in three out of his last four fights, bloodied and battered during the course of those fights. If Cotto had the surprising hand speed that Steward is gushing about, you would think that it would have come into play in these fights and saved him from taking so much horrible punishment.

I don’t know that Cotto’s speed will be enough for him to save him from taking additional punishment in this fight. And even more of a concern for Cotto is all that terrible scar tissue that now surrounds both of his eyes from his wars with Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey, Zab Judah and Manny Pacquiao. This is something that you can’t wish away and it’s not something that Steward can do much about other than telling Cotto to keep his guard up more, keep moving and try to duck some of the shots.

Naturally, if Cotto fights like that, he’s basically going to be boxing with a boxer and that will be falling into the game plan of Foreman. It’s doubtful that Cotto will be able to outbox a taller skilled fighter like Foreman. That’s his department. For Cotto to win, he’s going to have to be the slugger that he’s always been and hope that he can take Foreman out with pressure and power.

Cotto isn’t going to do anything with speed, because he’s not that fast. I think Steward is hoping that Cotto will be fast, but realistically, he’ll be his usual slow, plodding self tonight. This fight will come down to whether Cotto’s skin holds together long enough for him to take Foreman out with his power shots.

If Cotto gets cut badly, then he loses about 25% of his ability and if he sustains a cut above his other eye, then Cotto will lose another additional 25% and will be fighting at only 50% capacity against a quicker, taller and much more elusive fighter. At that point, Foreman will be like a Piranha and will literally rip Cotto to shreds without getting hit too much.