Cotto the perfect opponent for Mayweather’s September 13th fight

By Boxing News - 05/28/2014 - Comments

cotto6778By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in the perfect position to get the ideal opponent to add to his legacy if Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) can get by WBC middleweight Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) on June 7th. A fight against Cotto would put Mayweather in a position to win a 5th division world title. Mayweather could easily spot Cotto a 5-10 pounds and still win an easy title while at the same time ensuring that he’s fighting someone that can help bring in the pay-per-view buys.

Other than Cotto or maybe a rematch against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, there’s not much out there for Mayweather that brings something to the table. Marcos Maidana had his chance, but he lost the fight. Boxing fans don’t want to see Mayweather fight Maidana again because they already know that Mayweather gave Maidana a huge handicap the last time he fought him. You take away the handicap that Mayweather gave Maidana, and it would be a one-sided fight with Mayweather boxing circles around the slow-footed Maidana.

Besides Maidana, the rest of the welterweights paint a bleak picture of fighters without large fan bases or guys that are mainly only popular in their home country. Mayweather vs. Amir Khan wouldn’t draw much interest in the United States because Khan doesn’t have a fan base here. The same goes for Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Devon Alexander. The 140 lb. division only has Danny Garcia, and he’s mainly popular in the Philadelphia area.

Mayweather beat Cotto by a 12 round decision two years ago, but enough time has gone by for Mayweather to fight him again. Normally I wouldn’t be in favor of Mayweather taking a rematch, but in this case it’s the smart thing for him to do because of how lacking the 147 lb. division is right now in terms of popular fighters. Manny Pacquiao has a large following, but he ruined his chance for the Mayweather sweepstakes by extending his contract through 2016. Chances are that will be the final contract of Pacquiao’s career because he’ll be 38 by the time the contract expires and no way is Mayweather going to sit and wait on him. Even if he did wait, Pacquiao would likely re-sign with Top Rank for another 2 years rather than fighting Mayweather.

If Sergio Martinez beats Cotto then that’ll mess things up, because Cotto is the one with the fan base, not Sergio. Mayweather doesn’t gain anything from fighting Sergio. That would be like him fighting Maidana again.



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