By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto’s Face Off with Max Kellerman was televised last night on HBO to hype their May 5th HBO pay-per-view fight at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the most part, Mayweather was full of respect for Cotto, treating him pretty well compared to some of the last few guys that he’s met in the ring.

Mayweather said he still sees Cotto as unbeaten, as he points out that he fought Manny Pacquiao at a catchweight that benefited Pacquiao and hurt Cotto, and Mayweather also questions Cotto’s loss to Antonio Margarito in 2008.

Mayweather said “I don’t know [how I’m going to beat Cotto], but he must know I’m not like no other fighter. I can give it and I can take it. I look at Miguel Cotto as an undefeated fighter. He faced Pacquiao, but Pacquiao caught him at a catchweight. It wasn’t the best Miguel Cotto. He was drained; he wasn’t hydrated. Antonio Margarito was a guy who was cheating. I want him [Cotto] to be comfortable, to feel good when we meet to go into battle. I don’t want no excuses. So I’m going to go in there and be Floyd Mayweather. I’ve been there before and I know what it takes.”

Yeah, I kind of feel the same way about Cotto’s loss to Pacquiao. That was a drained Cotto, and shouldn’t have taken the fight when they put the conditions on him that he had to fight at a catchweight for the fight to be made. He really had no choice other than to vacate the title, because Pacquiao was suddenly made the mandatory challenger and Cotto’s WBO title was going to be on the line whether he wanted it to or not. He didn’t want the WBO title to be up for grabs if he fought at Pacquiao’s catchweight handicap, but the WBO said it had to be on the line. Had Cotto resisted, the WBO belt would have been stripped from him and Pacquiao would have still had the chance to fight for the belt but not Cotto.

Cotto said this about what he has to do to beat Mayweather “Work harder than him.”