By Chris Williams: Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) sure won’t be getting any stronger by moving up in weight to take on WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) that much is for sure. If Cotto thought this move would save him from having to take off a little more in order to make himself stronger, I think Cotto is kidding himself. If anything, I think Cotto is going to be weaker for this because he’s going to be sluggish because he’ll be carrying around extra weight for 12 rounds, if goes that long.

I think Foreman is going to box circles around the slower, wide-bodied Cotto and cut him to ribbons with his spearing shots. Cotto has been getting cut more and more lately and not looking good once he gets cut. Foreman is going to have a field day once he has Cotto bleeding like a stuck pig and is going to tap dance on his head unimpeded once he’s got Cotto half blind from the blood that’s leaking in his eyes.

This is Cotto’s moment of truth. If he wins this fight, his promoter Bob Arum could either put Cotto in with Manny Pacquiao for a huge money fight or Cotto could wind up fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a fight that would be far less interesting. But if Cotto gets beaten by Foreman, I think it’s going to hurt Cotto’s popularity and make him a lot less marketable.

On paper, Foreman is a fighter that Cotto should be able to beat, because Cotto has much more and a lot more experience against top level opponents compared to Foreman. However, Cotto hasn’t looked really good for a long time and has been taking increasingly worse beatings with each fight. Even the ones he wins now, Cotto is taking a beating.

No doubt, Cotto is taking on better opposition nowadays and that would help explain some of the reasons for Cotto taking major beatings. But Cotto is supposed to be a world class athlete and if he can’t beat these guys, then maybe he doesn’t belong at the top anymore. Cotto will probably continue to be a highly marketable fighter even if he gets stomped tonight by Foreman but I can’t see Arum plunking him down in another big stadium fight if he loses this one.

It’s bad enough that Cotto is 2-2 in his last four fights. Those aren’t exactly stadium fighter like numbers if you ask me. I can just see it, Cotto with a 2-3 record in his last three fights being put in the main event at Cowboy stadium. Cotto needs to rebuild if he gets thrashed by Foreman because the losses are clearly a signal that somethings not right and I think it’s beyond just a training issue. Some of it is Cotto’s fault because he likes to come charging in on his opponents like a modern day Jesse James trying to slug with them. That kind of thing isn’t working anymore and is causing Cotto to get his face ripped apart every time out. Emanuel Steward, Cotto’s new trainer, hopefully has been working with Cotto to protect himself better so he doesn’t get smashed around quite so much.