Canelo has to be favored over Cotto, says Malignaggi

By Boxing News - 09/18/2015 - Comments

Image: Canelo has to be favored over Cotto, says MalignaggiBy Dan Ambrose: With two months to go before the November 21st clash between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs), there is a great deal of indecision about which of these two fighters will emerge as the winner in their bout on HBO pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

While some boxing fans believe that Cotto’s experience and brute power will be enough for him to get the victory, other fans see the 25-year-old Canelo’s youth and size being too much for the 34-year-old Cotto.

Former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi thinks that Canelo should be the one favored in this fight because of his youth and his naturally bigger size. I’m not so sure that will be enough for Canelo because it wasn’t enough in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, and I have a feeling that Cotto will have no problems negating Canelo’s small size advantage over him.

“Obviously you favor Canelo, he’s a bit younger and also he’s a naturally bigger guy and those things matter when two guys who fight in that same style which is to try and run you over,” Malignaggi said to Fighhype. “Usually the bigger train runs the smaller train over, so to speak.”

The bigger fighter does beat the smaller fighter in many cases, but not when the smaller fighter is skilled, powerful and almost as big as Canelo. Cotto is probably going to be coming into the fight in the low 160s compared to Canelo’s 175.

At best, we’re maybe talking about the light heavyweight sized Canelo enjoying a 15 pound weight advantage. But you have to remember that the fight will be taking place at a catch-weight of 155 pounds, and this means that Canelo will need to drain down in weight 20 pounds to make the catch-weight limit.

Canelo has obviously proven that he can make the weight without too many problems, but what also is clear is that he gets sluggish and tired after only a handful of rounds, and he fades badly in the second half of his fights. Fortunately for him, he’s faced a lot of opponents recently that have fought at a slow pace, and haven’t pushed him to expend a lot of energy.

Even after taking off 20 pounds of water weight and putting it back on in the eve of his fights, Canelo can still waddle around the ring at a slow pace and throw his shots with good power. It’s when Canelo is pushed to a fast pace where he had problems, because he can’t handle moving his body around when he’s fighting at a hurried pace. His face turns red and he starts to labor badly.

“Cotto has proven too intelligent and Cotto has proven his longevity in this sport because of the qualities that he has,” Malignaggi said. “So we will see if he can show those qualities again against Canelo. It’s going to be a difficult fight for him, but I think it’s going to be a difficult fight for both of them.”

I do see Cotto as the more intelligent fighter of the two with the quicker hands speed, better jab and superior punching power. Cotto is also the more mobile fighter of the two by a long shot.



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