Cotto needs Plans A-D to try and beat Mayweather

By Dan Ambrose: One of the biggest criticisms made against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is the fact that he fights pretty much in one gear and one style. There really isn’t a Plan B, C, D or E. Cotto is kind of a what you see is what you get fighter. He’s like an actor who is playing himself in every role without changing characters because he can’t change; he’s not capable of doing it for whatever reason. Cotto fights undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th in a fight where Cotto it’s absolutely essential that he be able to change gears to adjust to the things Mayweather Jr. is doing in the ring.

I just don’t think it’s possible. For a fighter that’s unable to move from plan A to plan B, Cotto is going to likely be completely lost when he’s unable to make the needed adjustments when things start going south on him in the first few rounds. I’m not even talking about when he starts bleeding and swelling up on cue early in the fight. That right there is going to be hellish for Cotto and I hope he’s got some kind of plan how to deal with that.

But I’m talking about basic strategy that Cotto is going to need for him to counteract the things that Mayweather is doing. Cotto isn’t going to be able to go out and just mow Mayweather down like the fodder that his former promoter Bob Arum had been throwing in the ring to face Cotto for the past two years. If Cotto tries his one-paced, one-direction fighting style against Mayweather on May 5th, Cotto will get clowned and sent packing early like Victor Ortiz was when he came in the ring with only one idea.

Cotto has to set traps and have a number of chess-like moves he can use to lull Mayweather to sleep and then lower the boom on him. If it doesn’t work one time, then Cotto has to have other traps and adjustments he can make in the ring to get the better of Mayweather, because the way he fights right now is incredibly predictable to the point where even boxing fans watching him can accurately predict what he’s going to do next.