Cotto needs to move back down to 147 if he wants to prolong his career

By Boxing News - 12/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Cotto needs to move back down to 147 if he wants to prolong his careerBy Allan Fox: The short 5’7″ Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) really never had the size to be fighting at junior middleweight to begin with after moving up to the division back in June 2010 when his then promoter Bob Arum matched him against one of his Top Rank stable fighters Yuri Foreman, who had little power and a bad right knee.

Cotto beat him of course and then defeated Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito, neither of which were true junior middleweights. When Cotto finally did face his first real able-bodied junior middleweight in WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) last Saturday night, Cotto looked like he didn’t belong in the same division as him.

Trout was much taller and much heavier than Cotto. The size is what beat Cotto more than anything because he didn’t have the weight, the height or the reach to compete with the bigger Trout. The thing is we’d have likely seen the same thing if Cotto’s past promoter Arum had matched him against true junior middleweights like Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, Saul Alvarez, Cornelius Bundrage and Vanes Martirosyan. Those guys are all much bigger than Cotto and it would be difficult to see Cotto being able to compete with any of them due to his size disadvantage.

Cotto needs to move back down in weight so he’s not facing guys that rehydrate up to 170 like he would be dealing if he stays at 154. The welterweights are much more Cotto’s size. You put Cotto in with guys like Tim Bradley, Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz, Josesito Lopez, Devon Alexander and Paulie Malignaggi, and Cotto would do very well against those guys.

Obviously, Cotto would have problems against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, but those are the exception to the rule. Could would be a huge headache for the rest of the welterweights, and he wouldn’t have to deal with being so much smaller than his opponents like he was last Saturday night.



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